Cody Snavely
The Los Angeles Dodgers have announced that right-handed pitcher River Ryan will undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery. He’ll miss the remainder of the 2024 season and possibly all of the 2025 season.
Ryan, who posted a 1.33 ERA through his first four big league starts, hit the injured list over the weekend after suffering a UCL sprain in his most recent start.
Despite the injury, Ryan remained optimistic in his post-game interview, stating, “I’m not very concerned going forward,” he said. “I feel pretty solid right now. They ran me through some tests, and everything was strong. I’ll go to the doctor tomorrow morning and see what happens.”
However, those test revealed a UCL strain in his right elbow all but ending his 2024 season and the team and Ryan would go over the next steps in the coming days.
Fast-forward to today and River Ryan is the latest pitcher to opt for surgery in what has been described as an elbow epidemic in Major League Baseball.
The 25-year-old Ryan was an 11th-round pick by the Padres in 2021 and acquired by the Dodgers in the now-infamous Matt Beaty trade. Ryan, a former two-way player, would shift to pitching full-time upon his arrival in the Dodgers system and quickly rise through the minor league totem pole.
Ryan was called up during the second half of the regular season, made his Major League debut against the National League West division rival San Francisco Giants, and was on pace to be a big part of the Dodgers’ pitching plans come October.
Since Ryan’s injury occurred while pitching at the big league level, he’s on the MLB injured list and will spend his 2025 rehab on the big league injured list. He’ll earn major league pay and service time while recovering from the injury. That’ll give him at least a full year of service while he recovers, putting him on track for arbitration in the 2027-28 offseason and free agency following the 2030 season.
Ryan also joins a lengthy list of pitchers that have been or are injured this season for the Dodgers, including players such as Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Walker Buehler, Nick Frasso, Kyle Hurt, Bobby Miller and others.
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