Ryan Ward never got the call up to the Dodgers this season, so he spent his summer tearing up Triple-A pitching. For his efforts, the first baseman and corner outfielder on Saturday was named the Pacific Coast League MVP.
Ward hit .290/.380/.557 with a 132 wRC+ for the Comets this season, and led all of minor league baseball in home runs (36), runs batted in (122), extra-base hits (73), and total bases (315). He won PCL player of the week honors for the week of July 7-13 by hitting .429/.556/.857
with six extra-base hits, six walks, and six RBI in six games against Sugar Land.
Ward was also named to the PCL All-Star team as designated hitter.
Ward also hit 34 home runs in 2024 with Oklahoma City, then followed that up with five home runs for Team USA in the Premier12 tournament last November in Japan. The 27-year-old has driven in 100 runs in each of the last three seasons for the Comets.
Spending three years in Triple-A allowed for Ward to set several Oklahoma City records, especially during their Bricktown era from 1998 to present in their current ballpark, including most home runs (90) and RBI (318). In 2025, Ward set Bricktown era single-season records with 164 hits, 122 RBI, and 113 RBI.
Ward is the second Oklahoma City player in three years to win Pacific Coast League MVP, along with Michael Busch in 2023. The Dodgers didn’t have a place for Busch and traded him to the Cubs, where he’s found success in the majors while Los Angeles got outfielder Zyhir Hope and pitcher Jackson Ferris, a pair of highly-regarded prospects, in the deal.
A similar opportunity could come for Ward, who will be a minor league free agent in November. The Dodgers’ eighth-round draft pick in 2019 out of Bryant University is a .265/.341/.503 career hitter in six minor league seasons, with 150 home runs, 133 doubles, and 506 RBI in 678 games.
