After it became evident Tony Gonsolin would not be part of the Opening Day rotation, the Los Angeles Dodgers decided on Ryan Pepiot from a competition with Michael Grove for the fifth starter.
Gonsolin began the season on the 15-day injured list because of a sprained left ankle that was originally considered a minor issue. However, Gonsolin was slow to recover and ultimately ruled out from being on the roster at the start of the season.
He recently faced batters in a game at Camelback Ranch but was back at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
“Tony threw a 31- or 32-pitch bullpen, was really good,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Did his PFPs today. He’ll fly out and the plan is for him to throw, I think four innings, Thursday in Triple-A. So he’ll throw four innings and we’ll see where we go from there.”
Gonsolin’s rehab assignment is likely to be at least two outings, which would stretch him out to five innings prior to joining the Dodgers starting rotation.
Roberts previously indicated Gonsolin would likely be activated at some point in early May, and that remains the target date.
“I guess if you look at the math, it’s sort of right around there,” Roberts said.
Tony Gonsolin used ankle injury to improve mechanics
Although Gonsolin’s recovery process has been longer than expected, the time allowed for him to iron out a mechanical issue.
“I started to create a little bad habit with landing,” he recently explained. “The arm action was a little weird, the timing of the throw was a little weird. So got with Mark Prior and C-Mac (Connor McGuiness), and they saw it immediately. They’re like, ‘Hey, man, if you’re going to throw, you need to do it the right way.’
“So it’s a blessing in a way that I was able to correct some of the mechanical stuff or feel like I’ve corrected some of the mechanical stuff.”
Pepiot still not throwing
Pepiot wound up beginning the season on the 15-day IL as well because of a left oblique strain, but he nevertheless believed the issue was caught early enough that a quick return would be feasible.
Pepiot’s progress, however, has not lived up to that expectation.
“Ryan is just doing one-arm plyos in Arizona. We’re all kind of miffed at the slow progress,” Roberts said. “He’s still not throwing a baseball.”
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