When the Los Angeles Dodgers reported to Dodger Stadium for the start of Summer Camp last month, Tony Gonsolin was among the several players who did not arrive on time due to undisclosed reasons.
The right-hander revealed after Wednesday’s spot start against the San Diego Padres that his absence stemmed from previously testing positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19), although he isn’t convinced the result was accurate. “There’s no way to prove it, but I’m pretty sure I got a false positive,” he said.
“I tested positive once and have not tested positive since then. There’s nothing I can really do about it. It was about a week before (MLB’s) intake (testing at the start of camp).”
Gonsolin reported to Summer Camp on July 8, several days after team workouts began. While he was able to get reps in as the month progressed, he did not earn a spot on the Dodgers’ 30-man Opening Day roster.
“Obviously in hindsight it’s easy to look back and say if I did what I was doing in our Summer Camp and all that stuff, it’s a bunch of speculation,” he said when asked if the late arrival precluded him from breaking camp with the team.
“I was just trying to get ready as quickly as I could and stay healthy, and when I get my opportunities up here, take advantage. I’m just trying to be as ready as I can be,” he said of the Dodgers’ plan for him going forward.
“Whether it’s staying up here and being able to work on my five- or six-day (routine) up here, or if it’s going back to the offsite facility and getting the same work in, just at a different place.”
As for Wednesday’s start against the Padres, Gonsolin was lights out, yielding just three hits over 4.2 scoreless innings with a career-high eight strikeouts. “I definitely had the changeup split going,” he said.
“Probably the biggest contributor to that is being able to land it, which was huge for me. Kind of later in the game, after the second inning, I started using some of the breaking balls a little bit more and was able to land those as well. I think the combination of those things really solidified the swing and miss.”
The outing was Gonsolin’s second consecutive without allowing a run, having previously shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks over four innings in his 2020 debut. “I think there’s definitely some consistency I can work on,” he said.
“First outing, I had a really good fastball and the split is kind of always there, so that was nice. This outing, I kind of had all my offspeed stuff. I didn’t really feel like the fastball was as great. Trying to find some consistency and getting everything on the same page will definitely help with that.”
In his two appearances thus far, Gonsolin has accumulated 8.2 shutout innings with nine strikeouts against two walks.
Dave Roberts unsure when Gonsolin will pitch again
It remains unclear when Gonsolin will next take the mound, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts noted that his latest performance earned him another start. “We’ve got some good discussions,” he said.
“I think that Tony’s done everything he needed to do to earn another start, so it’s going to be a good discussion and we’ll see what happens.”
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