Dodgers' Ward slugs his way to the 2025 Minor League home run crown
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No Minor League hitter relished the home run ball more times than Ryan Ward in 2025.
Ward, an outfielder in the Dodgers' system, won the Joe Bauman Award for launching the most long balls in the 2025 Minor League season on Sunday. The 27-year-old finished the campaign with 36 homers for Los Angeles' Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City. First presented in 2002, the award honors Joe Bauman, who set a then-professional record with 72 homers in 1954 while playing for the Roswell Rockets of the Class-C Longhorn League.
Although Ward did not go yard Sunday in Oklahoma City's 3-1 regular-season finale loss to Tacoma (Mariners), the 27-year-old held onto the lead he built earlier in the week on the strength of his fourth multihomer game of the season Thursday, which included a two-run shot at 110 mph in a 12-10 win at Cheney Stadium.
Yankees No. 3 prospect Spencer Jones (MLB No. 86) wasn't far behind, finishing his regular season with 35 total homers between Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Somerset. Lazaro Montes (SEA No. 3/MLB No. 28), Jose Rojas (NYY) and Bob Seymour (TB) also hit at least 30 dingers this season in the Minors.
Over the past two years, Ward led all of the Minors with 70 roundtrippers, but he finished the 2024 season with 34, second-most behind the Marlins' Deyvison De Los Santos (40). Since 2021, Ward has hit the most homers of any Minor Leaguer with 146. Only the Cardinals' Luken Baker and the Astros' Shay Whitcomb have eclipsed 120 in that span.
Among his four multihomer games this season, Ward clubbed a career-high three long balls May 29. He matched his career high of six RBIs in a 9-3 victory over the Las Vegas Aviators.
Los Angeles invited Ward to big league Spring Training the past three years. Yet after his sixth season of professional baseball, he hasn’t cracked the Major League roster.
Ward finished the 2025 season with a slash line of .290/.380/.557. He posted personal bests in average, homers, doubles, RBIs, on-base percentage and OPS in a career-high 143 games. Ward's contract is due to expire this offseason.