Aug 10, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher River Ryan (77) pitches during the third inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images

Shohei Ohtani on his decision to not pitch in the WBC

The Dodgers pitchers who will be competing for a roster spot in spring training include but are not limited to the following: Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Edgardo Henriquez, Justin Wrobleski, Ben Casparius, and Kyle Hurt.

It’s unclear if the Dodgers will use a six-man rotation or not, though there have been hints that they will. If that’s the case, Sheehan seems like the most likely candidate after he made 15 appearances (12 starts) last year to nice effect. However, Stone was a workhorse for the Dodgers in 2024 — he never missed a single start — before he was shut down with a shoulder issue in September and underwent surgery not long after.

Ryan might be the most intriguing of them all. He got off to a miraculous start in 2024 (four starts for a 1.33 ERA) before he also got hurt and underwent Tommy John in August.

The Dodgers are content to hoard all of these once or current top prospects right now, but they’re going to have to let some of them go at some point.

Keith Law of The Athletic said that Ryan “could be the top pitching prospect in baseball if he were completely healthy.” That sounds like the kind of player who could perhaps be intriguing to the Twins in a potential Joe Ryan trade, or the Tigers for Tarik Skubal.

Dodgers’ River Ryan “could be the top pitching prospect in baseball” in 2026

Despite not pitching at all in 2025, Ryan stayed in the Dodgers’ pipeline’s top 10 throughout the year, sitting at No. 9. His 20 1/3 inning sample size is minuscule, but his fastball (which has a 65/80 rating from MLB Pipeline) showed a lot of early potential.

He looked like a better ground ball pitcher than swing-and-miss guy during his brief major league stint, but his 10.5 SO/9 rate in Triple-A suggests he has swing-and-miss stuff — a slider and curveball with a lot of movement — that he just needs to get a better feel for in MLB.

If the Dodgers aren’t going to be willing to give up Tyler Glasnow in exchange for a guy like [Joe] Ryan or Skubal, they have a wealth of burgeoning talent with even more years of team control that they can dangle in front of selling teams.

It’s going to take a lot more than Ryan to get either of them, especially Skubal, but if he can pitch some productive long relief outings out of the Dodgers’ bullpen, he could be a place to start.