PHOENIX — In the backfields of Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers’ River Ryan and Blake Snell stayed behind to field grounders and practice throws to second. After a few dropped balls by Ryan during his transition, the two-time Cy Young winner talked it over at the mound with the young pitcher.
It was a typical scene you’d see in the early days of spring training, the extra work to dial in fundamentals. But for the 27-year-old Ryan, it’s part of the journey in his return from Tommy John surgery.
Ryan got a taste of the majors in July 2024, making his debut against the San Francisco Giants with 5 ⅓ innings and allowing an unearned run. He showed promise with his high-velocity fastball and swing-and-miss slider/curveball combination. But during his fourth start on Aug. 10 against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he exited the game in the fifth inning with what would be diagnosed as a torn UCL — his season done after pitching 20 ⅓ innings with 18 strikeouts and a 1.33 ERA.
Eighteen months later, Ryan’s goals are simple.
“Have a healthy season,” he said. “I definitely want to obviously pitch in the big leagues, make the team out of camp.”
But where he and Gavin Stone — another hurler returning from major surgery — fits in remains a question. Entering the season, the back-to-back World Series champions have a deep starting rotation, even accounting for a possible six-man rotation, which manager Dave Roberts hinted at during the offseason as a way to give starters extra rest over a long season.
The rotation already projects to feature Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Snell and Roki Sasaki. Snell announced last month at DodgerFest he would slowly ramp up his arm, but he still has his eyes set on being ready for opening day.
The potential last seat in the Dodgers’ starting staff remains a battleground.
In addition to Ryan and Stone, ascendant minor-league prospect Jackson Ferris and more established pitchers like Justin Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan are options.
Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations for the Dodgers, sees Wrobleski as a starter, even after coming out of the bullpen last season.
“His ability to grow mature, learn how to kind of harness the stuff and compete in those moments will serve him well of kind of how to try to navigate a lineup two, three times, so he’ll certainly be a candidate,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of candidates that we feel really good about, and whether the off days [at the beginning of the season] allow us to run with a five-man to start versus six-man, I think all are things that we’re working through,” Friedman added.
During the first week of camp, both Stone and Ryan made strong opening statements with their bullpen work and live batting practice sessions. In his 15-pitch live session on Saturday, Stone struck out Ohtani looking.
“Stoney was really encouraging,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said. “In his live [BP, he had] really good fastball quality, and the arm speed in the changeup was really encouraging.”
Stone missed the entire 2025 season after being shut down the previous season. During his rookie year, he struck out 116 batters, finished with an ERA of 3.53 with an 11-5 record and threw a complete game against the Chicago White Sox before he got shoulder surgery in Oct. 2024.
As for Ryan, who added 30 pounds to his frame, Gomes said: “River looks great, physically he’s a house right now. Ball’s coming out really well, and he has a deep arsenal.”
Said Ryan: “[The] biggest difference for me has been just being able to maintain velocity throughout the course of a game or throwing multiple pitches. And being able to throw harder, easier.”
Ramping them up as they return from major surgery will be a tough balance, Roberts said. As spring progresses, the Dodgers will continue to dial them up with precaution, especially at the start of the season when more hands on deck are required because some pitchers are still building up their stamina.
“There’s no hard line dates for any of our players, it really isn’t,” Roberts said. “I think we have a ton of depth, a lot of able players and we’re not gonna push any position players, let alone pitchers, to be ready for whatever date.”
“Competition is a good thing,” he added.
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