Ryan Ward

Note: This page is for Ryan ward who made his major league debut in 2026; for others with the same name click here.

Ryan Joseph Ward

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 10", Weight 200 lb.
• School Bryant University
• High School Millbury Memorial High School
• Debut April 19, 2026

• Born February 23, 1998 in Worcester, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Ryan Ward played four seasons in AAA and for Team USA before making his major league debut at age 28 in 2026.

Ward slugged .898 as a high school junior and 1.185 as a senior. As a college freshman at Bryant University, he hit .238/.304/.381 before a wrist injury cut his season short after 10 games. He batted .409/.449/.636 with 52 RBI in 56 games in 2018, setting program records for hits (101) and total bases (157) while making All-New England Conference. In '19, he produced at a .382/.450/.615 clip with 59 runs and 13 homers in 58 games and was again All-NEC.

The Los Angeles Dodgers took him in the 8th round of the 2019 amateur draft, in between Will Brennan and DJ Herz, and he signed for a $160,900 bonus. He batted .271/.340/.415 for the Ogden Raptors that summer. After the 2020 minor league season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he smacked 27 homers and scored 91 runs in 109 games for the 2021 Great Lakes Loons, while posting a .278/.352/.524 batting line. He was third in High-A Central in slugging (after Andy Pages and Michael Massey) and trailed the same duo in OPS. He was second in runs (five behind Pages) and RBI (four shy of Pages) while only Pages and Massey topped his 84 RBI. Among Dodgers farmhands, only Miguel Vargas and Page scored more times, while he was 5th in homers (between Matt Davidson and Vargas) and 4th in RBI. He was named to the league All-Star team, joining Pages and Griffin Conine in the outfield.

Moving up to the Tulsa Drillers in 2022, he continued to whack the ball - 28 homers and a .255/.319/.486 line. He was two dingers behind Southern League pacesetter Leandro Cedeno, was 9th with 78 RBI (between Chandler Redmond and Robbie Glendinning) and placed 7th in slugging (between Edouard Julien and Cade Marlowe). In the Dodgers chain, he hit the 4th-most home runs (between James Outman and Pages). In '23, he made it to AAA with the Oklahoma City RedHawks and went deep 21 times. He hit 6 triples, scored 87 runs, drove in 95 and drew 68 walks while hitting .234/.324/.424. He was 4th in the 2023 PCL in RBI. He tied Chris Newell for 4th in the Dodgers minors in home runs and led in RBI, 5 ahead of Imanol Vargas and Michael Busch.

He continued to show prodigious power in AAA in 2024 with 33 home runs, 7 triples and a .543 slugging; he scored 78 runs and drove in 101 while hitting .258 with a .317 OBP. He tied Sergio Alcantara for 5th in triples and led in home runs (two ahead of Jason Vosler). Only Vosler and Kyle Garlick had more RBI and Ward was 5th in slugging. He led the Dodgers system in circuit clouts, 8 more than Dalton Rushing. He had 15 more RBI than runner-up Andre Lipcius. He still did not get the call to the majors as the 2024 Dodgers had a mighty offensive attack. He did make the US team for the 2024 Premier 12 and was their primary DH. His first game, he pinch-hit for Tim Elko and was retired by Puerto Rico's Luis Cintrón. He went deep off the Netherlands' Kaj Timmermans the next day and kept on smacking them out for the rest of the first round - he homered off Panama's Gilberto Chu, Mexico's Teddy Stankiewicz and Jake Thompson and Venezuela's Enderson Franco (breaking a 5-5 tie in the 9th). The US won Bronze and he hit .308/.406/.865 for the event with 11 RBI in 9 games. He led the tourney in home runs (two ahead of Do-yeong Kim and Carlos Pérez) and was second in RBI (3 behind teammate Matt Shaw). He was named the All-Star DH.

Kicking off a third year at AAA, he began 2025 red-hot at .433/.471/.533 after 8 games. On May 1st, he executed one of the most spectacular plays one can imagine: a walk-off inside-the-park homer that broke a 3-3 tie in the first game of a doubleheader between the Oklahoma City Comets and El Paso Chihuahuas. He did not even need help from defensive misplays to execute the feat: it was simply a matter of turning on his blazing speed after driving the ball to the deepest part of the ballpark. He hit .290 in 143 games that season, with 36 homers and 122 RBIs. He led the PCL in homers by a country mile as his closest pursuer, Luis Campusano, hit just 25, and he had nine more RBIs than runner-up Yonathan Perlaza. However, he could not get a look on a very talented major league team that won its second straight World Series title that year. In 2026, he was still in Oklahoma City when the season began. He was hitting .324 after 18 games when he finally received the long-awaited call to L.A. on April 19th and it came because 1B Freddie Freeman went on the paternity list. Ward started at first base against the Colorado Rockies that day and went 2 for 5 with an RBI in a 9-6 loss at Coors Field.

Further Reading

• Theo DeRosa: "A walk-off, inside-the-park homer? Just as awesome as it sounds", mlb.com, May 1, 2025. [1]
• Owen Perkins: "After 7 years in Minors, Ward collects 2 hits, RBI in eventful MLB debut", mlb.com, April 19, 2026. [2]

Related Sites

• Ryan Ward on mlb.com
• BR Register page
• Bryant University bio