Ryan is likely out this season after Tommy John surgery. But Keith Law at The Athletic is high on the right-hander, calling him a potential future No. 2 starter and ranking Ryan the 52nd-best prospect in baseball.
The latest national prospect list was unveiled Monday, with Keith Law at The Athletic revealing his top 100 prospects in baseball. Five Dodgers minor leaguers made the list, including River Ryan, who is expected to miss all or nearly all of the 2025 season after Tommy John surgery.
Notably not on the list is Roki Sasaki, who was tabbed as the No. 1 prospect by both Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. The 23-year-old from Japan was technically considered an amateur by Major League Baseball and not a foreign professional, which is why BA and MLB Pipeline ranked Sasaki. But like at Baseball Prospectus, Law at The Athletic did not include Sasaki as a prospect because of his four seasons pitched in NPB.
Of the prospects Law did include, catcher/outfielder Dalton Rushing was the highest-ranked Dodger at 16th overall, up from 86th prior to this time last year.
Outfielder Josue De Paula was ranked 26th by Law, giving him a fourth top-50 selection thus far among prospect prognosticators. His fellow age-20-season outfielder on this list is Zyhir Hope at No. 58.
Shortstop Alex Freeland rounds out the list at No. 68 overall.
Ryan is ranked 52nd by Law, even after the right-hander had Tommy John surgery in August that will likely sidelined him for this season. Law has consistently been the highest on Ryan among prospect rankers, and tabbed him at 33rd last season, noting that he might make his big league debut before September.
Ryan did just that, debuting after the All-Star break and impressing in his four starts, allowing only four runs with 18 strikeouts and nine walks in 20⅓ innings.
“The injury and the lost time do hurt his overall outlook,” Law wrote Monday. “He’s a No. 2 starter if he comes back at 100 percent and can hold up for a full season.”
That’s four top-100 prospect lists in the last two-plus weeks, and Kiley McDaniel’s list at ESPN should drop this week.