Baseball Buzz: Update on Ryan Ward, Sean McLain, and Shohei Ohtani

Dodgers minor league outfielder and first baseman Ryan Ward was not added to the 40-man roster this week, and was listed by Baseball America as a potential selection in December’s Rule 5 Draft.

Ward, who turns 27 in February, was drafted by the Dodgers in the eighth round in 2019 out of Bryant University. He led the Pacific Coast League with 33 home runs this season, hitting .258/.317/.543 with a 103 wRC+ and 101 RBI in 120 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

He won a bronze medal with Team USA during the Premier12 tournament over the last week-plus in Tokyo, where he was teammates with Rich Hill as well as his 2024 Oklahoma City teammate Chris Okey, among others. Hill leads the tournament in home runs and RBI. He hit his fifth homer in Friday night, USA’s fifth of six games.

Sean McLain, the Dodgers’ fifth-round pick in 2022 who was limited by injuries to just 27 games played in his first two professional seasons, played in 95 games this year and hit .215/.326/.337, including a month with High-A Great Lakes after a hot stretch in Rancho Cucamonga.

McLain finished up his 2024 in the Arizona Fall League, where he hit .254/.421/.458 with three home runs in 20 games. He was also teammates with his brother Matt, a major league utility man with the Reds who used the AFL as rehab to end his season.

Both brothers talked with Kyle Odegard at SportsCasting about their experience:

Sean is a minor league prospect for the powerhouse Dodgers, so finding a major league roster spot won’t be easy, but his position flexibility helps.

“I think my versatility — playing short, second, third, I can even play outfield — will hopefully help me move up a little quicker,” Sean McLain said. “But whenever it is, it is. I don’t put a number on (a timeline to the big leagues). I just love playing baseball and it will take care of itself.”

Sean raves about the Dodgers. He said that when Matt was promoted to the majors by the Reds, Los Angeles flew him out to Colorado to watch Matt’s debut.

“I feel like I’m in the best org in baseball,” Sean McLain said. “Some organizations wouldn’t do that. I thought that was super special. I give the Dodgers a huge thank you for that. That was amazing. He killed it, then I flew home literally the next day and got back to my baseball stuff.”

A little more than a week ago, Minor League Baseball announced awards at each level for best groundskeeper, best home clubhouse attendant and best visiting clubhouse attendant in each league, as voted on by by league managers, players and executives.

The lone Dodgers winner here was in Low-A Rancho Cucamonga, with home clubhouse attendant Terrance Tucker winning the award in the California League.

On a somewhat related note, Triple-A Oklahoma City Comets director of field operations Jeff Jackson is a fun follow on Twitter, especially if you are into field maintenance.