River Ryan (7-27-24)

It's the Dodgers and Astros getting set for Game two of this three game series, and tomorrow River Ryan will be making a second major league start deep in the heart of Texas. River thanks a lot for the time. Appreciated.

Yeah, thank you for having me. I appreciate it very much.

It's kind of fitting that you'll be making your second major league start here in Houston because the guy by the name of Nolan Ryan had a lot of no hitters in this for this organization.

Yeah, you sure did. Yeah, that was really awesome.

Is there any connection as far as you knowing the history of the game and knowing some of these guys that came before you.

I mean, there's definitely no correlation between me and Nolan Ryan. We're not related in any any means. But yeah, watching watching Nolan Ryan, a lot of videos of him when he was playing. It's pretty special man, electric stuff for sure.

I know a lot of the young guys talk about they love playing the game, but they never really watched it growing up. Did you watch a lot of baseball growing up?

No. The only time I really ever watched sports is when it means something so like playoff or I mean All Star Game, Home run Derby is pretty cool to watch, but I definitely like watching them.

Watching players play when the pressure's on, you learn a lot.

I keep reminding people that you were not just a pitcher when you got drafted by the Padres. You were two way players. So what inspired you to chase your dream of playing baseball?

Well, the dream has always been to be a major league position player. But when I got traded the Dodgers in twenty two they I went into the office and asked them. I was like, Hey, so, are we gonna still do the hitting thing or are we just pitching? And they just said, You're just gonna pitch, And I was like, all right, yes, sir.

That made things a little bit more easier to focus and to grow as a pitcher. To be able to make your major league debut last week.

Yeah. Absolutely.

When you are able to just focus on one thing, I think you can you can develop a lot of.

Aspects in your game.

I've definitely over the past two years, learned a lot on the pitching side, developed the arsenal quite a bit, added a couple pitches.

So yeah, and I last saw you, I told you we hadn't seen each other since spring training camp broke and during camp you did not really pitch a lot. So how did you get your season jump started and be able to have this opportunity.

Yeah.

Now, I just did a lot of rehab in spring training for the shoulder, because the year before I almost I was nearing tripling my amount of innings I through the year before, so that was pretty taxing, especially just becoming a was my second.

Year just pitching my entire life, so that was a lot.

But yeah, I took some rest in the off season, did some rehab in the off season all the way through spring training and extended and then some So I think we're in a really, really good spot.

Did you feel like you were starting to hit your stride before you got called up?

Yeah, I Mean it wasn't never really the question of well the stuff play. It was being able to throw strikes and attack guys efficiently. Just getting strike one is the biggest thing I can do, as if you fall behind you, you're gonna give him a chance to do some damage against you, and that's definitely not something you want to do.

So getting strike one is huge.

Did you learn something as far as the way you use your secondary pitches? The sequence scene in your first start against the Giants.

Yeah, I'm still definitely in the process of learning what pitches to throw in what situations, but I kind of have a pretty solid idea of what I want to do against right handers and what I want to do against left handers. So yeah, I'm just gonna, like I said, try to get strike one and then go from there.

River Ryan is our guest. He made his major League debut at Dodger Stadium, And while I was doing Dodger Talk, I saw your whole family out on the mound. You had a lot of people at Dodger Stadium. What was it like after the game and just being with them and sharing that moment.

Man, it was a true blessing to have them all be able to make it out for my debut.

That was very special.

I'm praise the Lord that they were all able to make it, especially with what was going on with airports. Some of the family was stuck in the airport for twelve hours thinking they might not make it, but fortunately a lot of them were able to make it out. And yeah, we just we just hung out after the games, kind of talked about the outing, how blessed we are to be able to be in this situation.

But yeah, it was very, very fun.

I could tell. Family means a lot to you.

Absolutely, Yeah, families everything they've they've been there supporting me since i've been you know, just a little chap. So to have them still be in my corner at twenty five years of age is very special.

That's awesome, River, Ryan, Before I let you go, since your roots are as a hitter, any itch to go into the batting cage at any point in time during the season, it takes some hacks with the boys.

Oh I think about hitting all the time.

I wish I could still hit, but like I said, it got taken out of my hands and we're just focusing on the pitching side and it's got me here. So but I do still take some ground balls at shortstop as part of the routine leading up into starts. You know, say athletic because I've been in a position player in my whole life. Quick twitch muscles, got to keep them, you know, in motion. Definitely helps me on the mound, clean up my arm action. Throwing some balls

So yeah, I love it.

Maybe Dave Roberts if he needs a bunter and in a safety squeeze situation, River Ryan's available.

Yeah, I'm always ready. I'm always ready. When my name is called, I will be ready. Okay.

Thanks a lot for the time, and it's great to see your trajectory from where you were in spring training to making your major league debut and just never looking back moving forward. Thanks a lot for the time.

Yeah, thank you very much. I appreciate it.