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River Ryan hit the injured list for the second time this season with a left hamstring issue, but Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes is downplaying the severity. Gomes said the injury is “not overly serious” and that the right-hander will be able to continue baseball-related activities while recovering, per staff reporting at Dodger Blue.

Ryan has had a frustrating 2026 in terms of staying on the field. The 28-year-old right-hander showed real promise last season when he made his big league debut and flashed a sharp four-seam fastball and wipeout slider that had evaluators excited about his ceiling as a mid-rotation arm. He came into this year with legitimate rotation aspirations and earned a spot, but this is now his second IL stint of the campaign — the kind of stop-and-start rhythm that can derail a young pitcher’s development and make it difficult to build the stamina and consistency needed to hold down a rotation spot over a full season. When healthy, Ryan has shown he belongs. The stuff is there. The command has been trending in the right direction. But availability remains the hurdle.

The good news here is pretty straightforward: Gomes specifically said Ryan can keep doing baseball activities during his recovery. That’s a strong signal this isn’t a grade 2 strain or anything structural. Hamstring injuries exist on a wide spectrum for pitchers — on the mild end, we’re talking about a couple weeks of reduced intensity before ramping back up. On the bad end, you’re looking at months. Everything Gomes said points toward the mild end, and I’m inclined to take him at his word on this one. The Dodgers have generally been transparent about injury timelines this year.

From a roster perspective, losing Ryan for even a short stretch puts additional pressure on a pitching staff that’s already been juggling plenty. We’ve seen the front office stay aggressive about cycling arms between Oklahoma City and Dodger Stadium to manage workloads and cover gaps, and that approach will continue. The rotation depth has been tested repeatedly this season, and while the organization has enough arms to patch things together in the short term, the long-term picture really benefits from getting Ryan back healthy and pitching well.

I’d call this a minor setback rather than a real concern. If Gomes is right — and the fact that Ryan isn’t shutting down from baseball activities entirely backs that up — we should see him back in the rotation before the end of July. That’s the timeline I’m watching. For now, this is manageable.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: July 4, 2026 3:10 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers