River

Ryan

Ryan will miss the rest of this season and most or all of next year after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

It’s not a huge surprise, but it is still disappointing. It was already announced that Ryan would miss the remainder of the 2024 season, and this operation likely means that we won’t see Ryan for much — if at all — of the 2025 campaign. Ryan has considerable upside and still could be a long-term play for 2026 and beyond, but unfortunately we won’t see that talented right arm in action for at least a year, if not more.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Ryan will miss the remainder of the season. It’s another blow for the Dodgers — and for fantasy managers — as the right-hander left Saturday’s start against the Pirates with the tightness in his right forearm. Assuming he doesn’t need surgery, Ryan will be a name to keep an eye on for the 2025 campaign.

Ugh, that’s never what you want to hear. Ryan had been cruising along in the start, allowing just four hist over 4 2/3 innings of shutout baseball while punching out four batters. He was already getting bumped from the rotation with Walker Buehler set to return next week, but now he could be looking at a lengthy stint on the injured list.

The 25-year-old right-hander delivered a pitch to Michael Taylor in the fifth inning and came away shaking his arm afterwards. That lead to a consultation from the training staff and Ryan exiting the game, just one out shy of qualifying for a victory. He’ll head for further testing to see exactly what’s going on there. With Walker Buehler expected to return next week, this was already set to be Ryan’s last start in the Dodgers’ rotation for the time being. Now he could be looking at an extended absence.

Buehler looked sharp in his final minor league rehab start on Thursday, clearing the way for his return to the Dodgers’ rotation. It sounds like River Ryan is going to be the one getting bumped from the rotation to accommodate his return — as it’s Ryan’s spot that would be scheduled to pitch on Thursday. Fantasy managers may want to take a wait-and-see approach to Buehler before throwing him right back into lineups, though for some that are chasing wins desperate times call for desperate measures.

Ryan was pulled one out shy of qualifying for the win, but there was good reason for that after he loaded the bases in a one-run game in the fifth. Fortunately, Evan Phillips was able to strike out Brent Rooker to escape the jam. Ryan has a 1.72 ERA after three starts, and he’ll again be worth using in mixed leagues next weekend against the Pirates.

In one word, woah. Ryan was a marvel to watch in this one. He showed five different pitches to batters from each side of the plate and the Astros were clueless in practically every at-bat. His slider was especially lethal, forcing five swings-and-misses including a very ugly one to strike out Yordan Álvarez in the fourth inning. Missing the quality start by one out is disappointing, but the Dodgers let Ryan work up to 90 pitches so his expected workload should not be an issue going forward.

That would be River Ryan’s turn and it seems likely that he’ll make the start, but the Dodgers declined to confirm it while announcing that they’d start Gavin Stone on Friday and Justin Wrobleski on Saturday. Ryan was effective Monday in his major league debut, allowing only an unearned run over 5 1/3 innings.

Ryan missed the first two months of the season with a shoulder problem, so tonight was actually the first time all year that he’d pitched into the sixth inning. He needed just 73 pitches to get his 16 outs, even though he did walk three. Manager Dave Roberts indicated after the game that Ryan is tentatively scheduled to remain in the rotation for now, so he’s worth grabbing in leagues in which he’s available.