Dodgers Option River Ryan, Kyle Hurt to Triple-A Oklahoma City

The Dodgers optioned right-handers River Ryan and Kyle Hurt to Triple-A Oklahoma City on March 19, with both pitchers' Tommy John surgery histories driving the decision more than anything that happened in Arizona this spring.

Ryan, the organization's No. 6 prospect, earned nothing but praise for his spring work. He allowed just two earned runs across 9 2/3 innings for a 1.86 ERA, and this spring marked his first competitive action since undergoing Tommy John surgery, having missed the entire 2025 season. "In Ryan's case, it's about trying to keep his workload down this season as he returns from TJ surgery," beat writer Bill Plunkett noted. "He pitched well this spring and clearly figures into their plans going fwd." For a starter returning from more than a year away, the math pointed one direction regardless of his ERA.

The same logic applied to Hurt, the team's No. 24 prospect, whose spring peripherals were similarly hard to argue with. Across three Cactus League appearances covering 7 1/3 innings, Hurt posted a 12:2 strikeout-to-walk ratio, a 1.09 WHIP, and a 40 percent strikeout rate, finishing with a 3.68 ERA. He had Tommy John surgery on July 30, 2024 and spent all of 2025 on the injured list, though he did complete a minor league rehab assignment at Triple-A during the final month of the regular season and was used in postseason scrimmages throughout October.

The Dodgers announced Hurt's option before Wednesday's heat-shortened 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants at Camelback Ranch. Ryan was optioned afterward. The sequence made the internal reasoning transparent: if the organization was going to manage Hurt's workload as a returning reliever, it was never going to treat Ryan, a starter, any differently.

With those two moves, the Dodgers' Opening Day pitching picture narrowed to 14 healthy, 40-man roster pitchers remaining in big league camp. The rotation is set around Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and Roki Sasaki, with Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski competing for the fifth spot. The bullpen figures to include Edwin Díaz, Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, Jack Dreyer, Will Klein, Edgardo Henriquez, and Ben Casparius, with Sheehan or Wrobleski pulling double duty. Landon Knack, healthy and on the 40-man but without an apparent spot on either unit, figures to begin the year as rotation depth in Oklahoma City alongside Ryan and Hurt.

Manager Dave Roberts, speaking to SportsNet LA's Kirsten Watson after a Tuesday night win over Kansas City in Surprise, telegraphed that the final decisions were imminent. "We have," Roberts said when asked whether the team had seen enough to finalize its Opening Day roster. "We're going to have some good conversations, some hard conversations over the next couple of days."

Hurt is expected to work as a full-time reliever for Oklahoma City to open the season, a shift from the starter's role he carried for most of his minor league career. Ryan will be monitored on an innings limit as he rebuilds arm strength. Both figure prominently in the Dodgers' long-term pitching plans; this spring just wasn't the right time to test those plans under a 162-game workload.