DENVER – Ryan Ward’s wait has finally ended.
After 696 minor-league games over seven seasons — including 420 at Triple-A alone — Ward got promoted to the major leagues for the first time Sunday. It will likely be a short stay – Freddie Freeman was moved to the paternity list and will rejoin the team in San Francisco – but it was a call that was a long time coming.
“Honestly, sitting here right now thinking about it, it feels like it went fast,” Ward said, sitting in the visitor’s dugout at Coors Field before making his major-league debut Sunday. “But, man, when I was down there it felt like a long time. It’s a pretty cool thing.”
Ward spent so much time in Triple-A without getting a call that he played for three different teams – Oklahoma City went from playing as the Dodgers in 2023 to the Oklahoma City Baseball Club in 2024 to the Comets last year.
Even when his wait ended, it wasn’t quite over.
Ward was called back from the on-deck circle as the Comets’ game in Albuquerque was about to start Friday. He had been scratched from the lineup but OKC manager Scott Hennessey was coaching third base for the Comets’ half of the inning and Ward had to wait until the inning was over to get the official word.
“It’s a really good story,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s been a Dodgers farmhand for a long time, and we’ve asked him to do a lot of different things, as far as hit for power, control the strike zone more, hit for average, improve the defense. And he’s done all that.
“You see him in a big-league clubhouse, it’s one of those stories that he’s earned every bit of this opportunity.”
Dalton Rushing has five home runs in just 21 at-bats this season including one Saturday night and Roberts had planned to give him the start at first base in Freeman’s absence. But he changed to Ward.
“I went to Dalton last night, and I said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna go against what I talked about, and I’m gonna start Ryan, because — ‘ and Dalton finished my sentence, ‘because he’s earned it,’” Roberts said.
Ward was the Pacific Coast League MVP in 2025 and started this season on a tear, batting .324 with a 1.020 OPS in 18 games for OKC before finally getting the call.
“Honestly, I used it to keep going,” Ward said, acknowledging the frustration of being passed over in the past. “‘OK, if I’m not there yet what do I have to do to get there? What part of my game do I need to work on to keep getting better?’ I used it as fire to keep working.”
The first chance he got Friday night, he called his mother, father and fiancee to give them the news. He had a group of 20 family and friends at Coors Field for his debut.
“They all started crying,” Ward said of making the call. “It was a special moment for sure.”
HEADS UP
Blake Treinen was minding his own business, leaning up against the back wall of the visitors’ bullpen at Coors Field during batting practice before Saturday’s game when he found himself knocked to the ground. A fly ball cleared the fence and hit him in the side of the head.
“I was up against the wall,” he said. “I couldn’t even see the dugout but somehow it just came in and (bonk).”
Dodgers trainers tended to him and checked for concussion symptoms but Treinen said he had none. He even warmed up to potentially go into the game at one point Saturday. Before Sunday’s game, he could only find “a subtle bump” on his head from the incident.
“I’m good,” he said. “Thank you for asking.”
UP NEXT
Dodgers (LHP Justin Wrobleski, 2-0, 2.12 ERA) at Rockies (LHP Jose Quintana, 0-1, 5.63 ERA), Monday, 5:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM