DENVER — Name it “delayed gratification.” Triple-A Oklahoma first baseman Ryan Ward was pulled from Saturday evening’s sport in Albuquerque as he approached the on-deck circle for his first at-bat. Together with his supervisor, Scott Hennessey, busy on the sphere, the explanation for Ward’s early exit from the sport wasn’t fully clear but.
“I used to be actually strolling to the on-deck circle very first thing within the sport,” Ward mentioned Sunday earlier than his MLB debut within the Dodgers’ 9-6 loss to the Rockies at Coors Subject. “Henny was really teaching third on the time, so we needed to wait the entire inning till he got here in and advised me. It was superior.”
Lower than 24 hours later, Ward was stepping onto the dust at first base for his Main League debut. He was concerned in two performs at first defensively, then flied out to heart in his first at-bat earlier than singling to proper in his second, plating Andy Pages within the fourth body to increase the Dodgers’ lead over the Rockies to 3-0 within the third sport of a four-game set. His liner simply eluded a leaping TJ Rumfield at first earlier than touchdown on the right-field grass.
“It was a whole lot of enjoyable from begin to end,” Ward mentioned after the sport. “The butterflies have been there, for positive, to begin the sport. They went away although. As soon as the sport began, it was like, ‘OK, it is simply baseball.’”
He singled to heart within the sixth as a part of a run-scoring rally and got here to bat with two outs and the potential tying run on base within the ninth earlier than Rockies proper fielder Troy Johnston made a diving play to finish the sport.
“My first hit, seeing everybody on the bench get excited for me, Woody [first-base coach Chris Woodward] was excited,” Ward mentioned. “And simply having the ability to take that deep breath of, ‘okay, that is over with and we will transfer ahead now.’”
Ward, 28, was the Dodgers’ eighth-round Draft choose in 2019, and after working by way of seven Minor League seasons to get a giant league alternative, he gladly waited one other half inning to get the official phrase. The Dodgers’ No. 19 prospect per MLB Pipeline is taking Freddie Freeman’s spot on the roster as Freeman begins a stint on the paternity checklist.
“He is been a Dodgers farmhand for a very long time, and we have requested him to do a whole lot of various things – hit for energy, management the strike zone extra, hit for common, and enhance the protection,” his new supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned Sunday. “He is finished all that. He earned each little bit of this chance. It is validation for all of the laborious work he is put in.”
Ward was the Pacific Coast League MVP in 2025, slashing .290/.380/.557 with 36 homers and 122 RBI. Ward led all of Minor League Baseball in homers, RBI, extra-base hits (73), and whole bases (315) in 2025.
“I’ve finished a whole lot of work, particularly within the final two years, altering the chase charge, getting the stroll once more, getting on base extra, getting myself into higher counts, and doing extra injury in these counts,” Ward mentioned. “It’s been a whole lot of work, and truthfully, sitting right here proper now occupied with it, it feels prefer it glided by quick. However after I was down there, it felt like a very long time.”
Ward emphasised his work at being extra selective on the plate, utilizing slight changes to the pitching machine to assist him hone in on in search of a specific pitch in a specific location. He additionally doubled-down on doing his homework on pitchers, learning how their strengths matched up towards his.
“I’m attempting to attempt to play that chess match and determine it out,” Ward mentioned. “It clicked final yr, and I am attempting to simply proceed to construct off of that.”
The work paid off with a powerful begin to his Triple-A season, hitting .324 with 4 homers and 14 RBIs in 18 video games.
“I actually imagine in meritocracy and performing,” Roberts mentioned, evaluating his personal tenure within the Minors to Ward’s. “He is a man that nothing was given to him. He is needed to earn it and proceed to earn it and proceed to show it. I relate to that, and I’m delicate to guys like him.”
Roberts mentioned he had initially deliberate to begin Dalton Speeding at first base Sunday, however he determined he needed Ward to have the chance to begin. When Roberts went to Speeding to inform him of the change in plans, Speeding completed his sentence for him, saying “as a result of he’s earned it.”
Ward mentioned he felt additional pushed after being placed on the 40-man roster this spring, and Roberts famous that Ward could have “put a bit of additional stress on himself” in consequence.
COMPLETE DODGERS PROSPECT COVERAGE
“He did not have one of the best spring, however he began off the season rather well, so that is only a excellent storm for him,” Roberts mentioned. “I anticipate him to play much more and get much more service time.”
After calling his mother and father and his fiancée all on one name with everybody crying over the comfortable information Saturday evening, Ward shortly rounded up about 20 family and friends members to hightail it to Denver and catch his debut Sunday.
“He took good at-bats,” Roberts mentioned after the sport. “The second did not get too huge for him, and it was enjoyable to look at him on the market. I used to be comfortable to see him get his first couple hits. Drove in a run, and that is what it is about. I want we might have received a baseball sport on high of it, however nonetheless an excellent day for Ryan and his household.”
