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How Ryan Ward overcame long minor-league wait to make Dodgers debut: ‘He’s earned it’
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- How Ryan Ward overcame long minor-league wait to make Dodgers debut: ‘He’s earned it’
DENVER — The wait lasted seven years, three weeks and, in the end, one final half-inning.
On Friday night, Ryan Ward was on deck at the start of Triple-A Oklahoma City's game in Albuquerque when he was called back to the dugout at the last second.
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There was news for him, he was told. But he'd have to wait until the team's manager, Scott Hennessey, got back from coaching third base at the end of the inning.
The Dodgers' Ryan Ward made his MLB debut Sunday. Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images
"I was getting smirks from people on the bench," Ward said with a smile. "People had a feeling."
Indeed, when Hennessey returned, he delivered the news Ward had been waiting on his entire career.
After seven seasons in the minors, the Dodgers were calling him up for his long-awaited MLB debut.
After a journey that often seemed to be at a dead end, he had finally reached the pinnacle of his profession.
"Sitting here right now thinking about it, it feels like it went by fast," Ward said Sunday, hours before his debut at Coors Field against the Rockies. "But, man, when I was down there, it felt like a long time."
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Ward, 28, was never a big-name prospect in the Dodgers ' farm system, nor really at any point in his baseball career.
He didn't grow up in a baseball hotbed, going to the local high school in his hometown of Millbury, Massachusetts. He wasn't heavily recruited in college, playing mid-major Division I baseball at Bryant University.
And while his raw power helped him become an eighth-round draft pick of the Dodgers in 2019, he was marked down for his size (5-foot-10), limited defensive versatility (either a corner outfield spot or first base) and an inability to control the strike zone that hampered his production at the plate.
"Nothing's ever really been handed to him," his dad, Carl, told The California Post. "He's had to work really hard to get where he is."
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From 2021-2024, Ward rose from High-A to Triple-A by racking up 109 total home runs, flashing a unique ability to slug the ball to all parts of the field.
The Dodgers' Ryan Ward got his MLB opportunity when Freddie Freeman went on the paternity list. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
"He's always had power," said Brett Pill , who grew close to Ward as the Dodgers' minor-league hitting coordinator before leaving the organization this past winter to become the Rockies' MLB hitting coach.
"I've never seen power to the opposite field like that," Pill added.
However, Ward only hit .255 in that time with almost three times as many strikeouts (532) as walks (195), making it too easy for pitchers to throw the ball out of the zone and get him to chase.
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Thus, Dodgers brass repeatedly told him that plate discipline needed to be a point of emphasis.
Manager Dave Roberts went as far as to "pull him aside at the end of spring training last season," Carl recounted, "and say, 'This is what's holding you back right now.'"
So, last year, Ward found a way to improve.
Ahead of his second season of Triple-A ball, the left-handed slugger adopted a new routine during his winter hitting sessions, constantly shifting the location balls would spit out of a pitching machine to improve his eye of the strike zone and hone in on specific spots to hunt. He also doubled down on his preparation, spending more time reviewing scouting reports and strategizing how to attack opposing pitchers.
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"I think it kind of dawned on him," Pill said, "like, 'If I really want to get on that team, I gotta figure some of that out.'"
What came next was a breakthrough 2025 campaign, one in which Ward's walk rate climbed, his strikeout rate was slashed nearly in half, his power numbers went even further through the roof and he won the Pacific Coast League's MVP award with a .290 batting average, 36 home runs and 122 RBIs.
"Pitchers can't just throw him balls and get him to swing at them," Pill said. "It made him a complete hitter, instead of just a big power threat."
Still, Ward's wait for a major-league call-up dragged on. Last year, corners of the fan base even began clamoring for him after seeing his gaudy minor-league numbers, but to no avail.
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"Honestly, I used it to keep going," Ward said. "If I'm not there yet, then what do I have to do to get there? What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better? I used it as fire to keep working."
Ryan Ward's family –– his dad Carl, mother Jenn and fiancee Keely (far right) –– was at Coors Field on Sunday for his debut.
That, Carl said Sunday –– while sitting beside his wife, Jenn, and more than a dozen other family members and friends in the Coors Field stands ahead of first pitch –– is the thing that made him most proud of his son's journey.
"He never felt bad for himself. He never said, 'Oh, poor me,'" Carl said. "He just said, 'OK, back to work I go.' It's just his work ethic, to never let anyone outwork you."
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Case in point: During winters back home in Massachusetts, Ward's work would include some non-baseball jobs, too.
After snowstorms, he would help his dad –– who is the park foreman for the City of Millbury's public works department –– by driving a plow truck to clear the community's main streets.
"He got his first 2-foot snowstorm this past winter!" Carl joked.
Ward also worked at a local hitting facility last year, helping young players make their own transformations with still-developing swings.
"He's just such a good kid," Pill said. " Boston guy, grinder."
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At times, Carl would try to emotionally hedge his son, reminding him that, "even if you don't get a call-up, you made it to a very high, elite level of baseball that 99% of people can't say they did."
Ward, however, remained adamant about climbing the final rung –– determined not only to reach the majors but also do so with the organization that drafted him.
"Obviously, this lineup is pretty stacked," Carl said. "But it was very, very important to him to make his debut with this team."
That's what made Friday's news all the more meaningful; not only to Ward, but all the people who got a front-row seat to his journey.
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Carl and Jenn were tipped off to what was happening when, while watching a broadcast of Oklahoma City's game, they noticed Ward didn't take his first at-bat.
"They showed him getting hugs and stuff in the dugout," Carl said. "We were like, 'Oh, my god!' I figured he either got traded or called up. And it was the better of the two."
Pill, meanwhile, got a wave of messages from his old Dodgers coaching colleagues when news began to spread later that night.
"It's a lot of years in the minors for him," he said. "But, especially with this team, to crack in and get a few days [in the big leagues] or whatever it ends up being –– like I said, I got texts from a lot of people that love this kid."
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Ward's stay might not last long. He was only recalled to replace Freddie Freeman after the superstar first baseman went on the paternity list. With Freeman expected back during next week's series in San Francisco , Ward's place in the majors appears to be temporary.
But after such a long climb, simply reaching a moment like Sunday was an accomplishment; so much so, one of Ward's former minor-league teammates was happy to sacrifice his place in the starting lineup.
"Actually, I was gonna start Dalton [Rushing at first base]," Roberts said. "Then I went to Dalton last night, and I said, 'Hey, I'm gonna go against what I talked about, and I'm gonna start Ryan, because …'"
Rushing cut him off.
"Dalton finished my sentence," Roberts said. "Because he's earned it."
