The Los Angeles Dodgers have struggled with injuries, specifically to their starting rotation, as much as any team in the league. They’ve lost starters like offseason acquisitions Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani for the season, though Ohtani was signed with the knowledge he wouldn’t throw this year.

Still, they have missed Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler, among others for solid chunks of the season. Now, they’re set to miss rookie starter River Ryan for the rest of the 2024 season after he suffered an elbow injury in his most recent start.

The Dodgers are in an emergency situation now, as the Diamondbacks and Padres surge for the NL West lead. Los Angeles needs to make a call up to fill Ryan’s role as soon as possible.

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When looking at who the Dodgers could sign or promote to replace River Ryan, there really aren’t too many options. There are limited healthy, MLB-ready prospects and only a handful of injured pitchers that will return this year. Rich Hill is an intriguing pitcher that the Dodgers could sign out of free agency, but given the fact that they have a few internal options, they would likely turn to one of them before signing the aging veteran Rich Hill.

The Dodgers DFA’d and let James Paxton (who incidentally got injured on Sunday in Boston) go for a reason.

They could recall the struggling flamethrower, Bobby Miller, from Triple-A to replace River Ryan.

At first glance, this is a hard no for the Dodgers. Miller hasn’t been good in his time with the big league club this year. His stint in Triple-A hasn’t been great either. But Los Angeles is running out of options.

Miller proved last year that he can compete in the big leagues. Though he’s been hit hard this year, the ability to get hitters out is deep down inside him somewhere and the Dodgers may have to promote him and hope that he can make it work. Miller could be brought up as a short term replacement until another prospect or injured player is ready to join the Dodgers.

Not my first option, but definitely something the Dodgers will look into given the short notice status of this roster move.

Looking at the Dodgers top pitching prospects, you have a ton of names to look at. Nick Frasso hasn’t pitched this season as he sits on the 60-day IL. The aforementioned River Ryan is now down for the season as is their next-best prospect, Kyle Hurt. You don’t land on a solid option until you make it all the way down to the Dodgers’ 13th-ranked prospect, per MLB Pipeline, lefty Justin Wrobleski.

Wrobleski has been incredible this season, posting a 3.23 ERA in the minor leagues, split between 13 Double-A starts and 2 Triple-A starts. He’s also made four big league starts where he holds a 4.05 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP across 20 innings.

The lefty has a polished four-pitch arsenal that he typically commands well. He’s struggled a bit with walks in his last two starts, but overall, command hasn’t been an issue for the 24-year-old.

Out of all the Dodgers options, this is the one that I like the most. He was competitive in his first four big league appearances, and he has the command and stuff to compete with the Dodgers right now.

If the Dodgers had their choice of options, they would choose to activate starter Walker Buehler from his rehab assignment at Triple-A. Buehler has been on a rehab assignment since July 26 after landing on the injured list with hip inflammation.

Matt Levine of Dodgers Nation was recently reporting on Buehler’s rehab assignment and when we could see his return to the big leagues.

“Walker Buehler is set to make his much-anticipated return to the Dodgers rotation, possibly during the upcoming series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Following a promising rehab performance where Buehler effortlessly dominated with his fastball, the right-hander’s addition could not have come at a better time.”

Buehler has proven time and time again that he’s an ace quality starter whenever he’s healthy and rolling at the big-league level. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen that level of Buehler since his second Tommy John surgery.

The Dodgers righty may be the most likely option to come up and replace Ryan in the Dodgers rotation. Buehler is a huge piece of this Dodgers rotation and their team. They need to get him healthy and keep it that way. We may finally see him return to his old self once he gets rolling in the big leagues again.