The Dodgers pitchers who will be competing for a roster spot in spring training include but are not limited to the following: Emmet Sheehan, Gavin Stone, River Ryan, Edgardo Henriquez, Justin Wrobleski, Ben Casparius, and Kyle Hurt.<\/p>\n
It’s unclear if the Dodgers will use a six-man rotation or not, though there have been hints that they will. If that’s the case, Sheehan seems like the most likely candidate after he made 15 appearances (12 starts) last year to nice effect. However, Stone was a workhorse for the Dodgers in 2024 \u2014 he never missed a single start \u2014 before he was shut down with a shoulder issue in September and underwent surgery not long after.<\/p>\n
Ryan might be the most intriguing of them all. He got off to a miraculous start in 2024 (four starts for a 1.33 ERA) before he also got hurt and underwent Tommy John in August<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Dodgers are content to hoard all of these once or current top prospects right now, but they’re going to have to let some of them go at some point.<\/p>\n Keith Law of The Athletic said that Ryan “could be the top pitching prospect in baseball<\/a> if he were completely healthy.” That sounds like the kind of player who could perhaps be intriguing to the Twins in a potential Joe Ryan trade, or the Tigers for Tarik Skubal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dodgers’ River Ryan “could be the top pitching prospect in baseball” in 2026<\/p>\n Despite not pitching at all in 2025, Ryan stayed in the Dodgers’ pipeline’s top 10 throughout the year, sitting at No. 9. His 20 1\/3 inning sample size is minuscule, but his fastball (which has a 65\/80 rating from MLB Pipeline) showed a lot of early potential.<\/p>\n He looked like a better ground ball pitcher than swing-and-miss guy during his brief major league stint, but his 10.5 SO\/9 rate in Triple-A suggests he has swing-and-miss stuff \u2014 a slider and curveball with a lot of movement \u2014 that he just needs to get a better feel for in MLB.<\/p>\n