Dodgers' latest move has fans wondering if forgotten prospect will ever get a shot

Dodgers outfield prospect Ryan Ward isn't ranked by MLB Pipeline or Baseball America, and never has been. He was an eighth-round draft pick in 2019 and is in his third full season in Triple-A this year. The Dodgers have invited him to spring training for four consecutive years, but he has yet to make his major league debut. When Teoscar Hernández officially went onto the IL on Tuesday, the Dodgers turned to former Rookie of the Year candidate James Outman.

All of that would suggest that Ward has little to no potential in the majors, and that the Dodgers are just waiting it out until he hits minor league free agency and signs elsewhere.

However, Ward is the Oklahoma City Comets' best hitter by almost every metric this season, and he was their home run (33), RBI (101) and slugging leader (.543) last year among players with over 100 games at Triple-A.

On May 1, he hit a walk-off inside-the-park homer, and the very next day he broke OKC's Bricktown-era home run record when he hit the 61st Triple-A homer of his career. So far this year, he's walking at a 12.5% clip and only striking out 18.8% of the time. He has a .359 BABIP. So what gives?

James Outman's promotion has fans wondering about Dodgers' plans for forgotten slugging prospect Ryan Ward

While Outman's promotion makes sense — the Dodgers need to figure out what in the world they're going to do with him and hope that he can at least raise his trade value — you have to wonder if/when the Dodgers will ever give Ward a shot given his production in Triple-A, even if it's just to assess him for his trade value. His strikeout rate has historically been worrisome, but he's doing it a lot less so far this year, and his power is undeniable.

Even if Outman completely blows this opportunity in the majors (he went 0-3 with three strikeouts in his season debut), it's unlikely that we'll see another position player come up from Triple-A unless there are more injuries to outfielders or if Hernández ends up missing a really significant amount of time. Even then, the Dodgers might prefer to make a trade over giving an untested farmhand his first shot at the majors.

Ward's doing too much in Triple-A to be forever destined for a minor league career. It's sort of surprising the Dodgers haven't thrown him in as a sweetener in a trade already, but it might be an indication that they do intend to bring him up at some point.