2021 Dodgers in review: Ryan Meisinger

His name is Ryan Meisinger and he wore uniform number 57 for one day with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of the 11 players to spend time on LA’s 40-man roster but not play for the Dodgers in 2021, Meisinger is the only one to spend time on the active roster.

At the end of August the Dodgers were at the end of a two-month stretch with heavy relief usage, taxed further by a 16-inning game in San Diego on August 25. They had three static starting pitchers and filled in the rest of the schedule with bullpen games and shuttling pitchers back and forth from the minors.

Between optioned players needing to wait the requisite 10 days in the minors before getting recalled, and players on the injured list, the Dodgers were simply out of pitchers on the 40-man roster they could have added for the first two games of September, when active roster limits expanded from 26 to 28 pitchers.

The depth was addressed with a pair of relatively minor moves on August 31. The Dodgers traded with the Twins for minor league left-hander Andrew Vasquez, who wasn’t on the 40-man roster but would be added within a few days. Los Angeles also claimed a pair of pitchers off waivers from the Cubs, right-handers Jake Jewell and Meisinger, who each allowed more runs than innings pitched with Chicago.

Meisinger was recalled on September 1, and wore number 57 for the final game of a home series against Atlanta. The Dodgers used four relievers after Max Scherzer’s six innings, but Meisinger didn’t pitch.

The next day, Meisinger was optioned to Triple-A to make roster room for Vasquez. Before he appeared in a game for Oklahoma City, Meisinger cleared waivers and was sent outright to the minors on September 4, ending his four-day run on the Dodgers 40-man roster.

Meisinger pitched quite well for Oklahoma City, allowing only two runs (one earned) in 10⅔ innings over 10 games, with 17 strikeouts and a 35.4-percent strikeout rate to finish out the season.

2021 particulars

Age: 27

Stats: 7 G, 12.27 ERA, 3.45 xERA, 7.12 FIP, 7⅓ IP, 6 K, 5 BB w/Cubs

Salary: unknown

Game of the year

In his second game with Triple-A Oklahoma City, on September 6 at home against Albuquerque, Meisinger pitched two scoreless innings, allowing one single. He struck out three of his seven batters faced.

Roster status

After getting sent outright to the minors in September, Meisinger elected free agency in October.