The Dodgers added pitcher Ronan Kopp to the 40-man roster, ahead of Tuesday’s deadline to set rosters ahead of the Rule 5 Draft.
Earlier this offseason, the Dodgers also added outfielder/first baseman Ryan Ward and pitcher Robinson Ortiz to the 40-man roster to keep them from reaching minor league free agency. Ortiz on Sunday was traded to the Seattle Mariners for minor league pitcher Tyler Gough.
Kopp was drafted by the Dodgers in the 12th round in 2021 out of South Mountain Community College in Arizona.
That was just a year out of high school in Scottsdale, where he was coached by former Angels outfielder Tim Salmon.
The 6’7 left-hander had a 3.43 ERA and 2.99 FIP in 49 games this season between Double-A Tulsa and Triple-A Oklahoma City, with 91 strikeouts in 57 2/3 innings. Kopp’s 36-percent strikeout rate was third-best in the Dodgers minors in 2025 among pitchers with at least 40 innings, trailing only Ryan Brown and Alex Makarewich, both of whom pitched in both Class-A levels, and in fewer innings.
As is the case with many young pitching prospects with live arms, walks are the main bugaboo for Kopp, who issued 42 free passes in those 57 2/3 innings, with a 16.6-percent walk rate.
In October, Ian Cundall at Baseball America said this of the left-hander:
Kopp has a deceptive delivery. He’s a short-strider with a high release height and steep approach angle. Kopp throws everything hard. His fastball sits in the mid-90s and touches 98.9 mph, while his slider averages around 90 mph. Both pitches miss bats—his slider generated a 44% whiff rate and his fastball 32%—but neither found the strike zone more than 50% of the time.
Kopp was promoted to Oklahoma City in July after a stretch of 15 appearances without allowing an earned run for Tulsa, a span that got to 16 games and 20 2/3 innings including his first game in Triple-A. He held his own with the Comets, with a 2.53 ERA in 21 games in the high-octane Pacific Coast League, and allowed only one home run in 253 batters faced on the season. He turned 23 years old in July.
After adding Kopp, the Dodgers have 39 players on the 40-man roster, including 25 pitchers.
