One of the biggest surprises for the Los Angeles Dodgers this season has been the production of Tony Gonsolin, who has been outstanding despite not having a set role.
Gonsolin has gone back and forth between the big league roster and the team’s alternate training site at USC, but in the three starts he has made, the righty has tossed 14.2 shutout innings while allowing just six hits with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
He is being called on for a spot start in Sunday’s series finale against the Texas Rangers. “I just try to be as ready as I can be with all the scouting and that stuff,” Gonsolin said.
“They give us ample time of notice when we’re pitching in games and all that, so I get to do all my scouting with plenty of time. In terms of going back and forth, it’s just another game. Whether it’s at USC against our guys or the Mariners or Diamondbacks or Padres. It’s all the same game to me. I’ve just got to go out there and do what I can do.”
As Gonsolin alluded to, he still receives adequate scouting reports before every game he pitches. Though, he also offered simple keys to succeeding against the Rangers. “I think just throwing a lot of strikes and getting early outs will be very helpful,” Gonsolin said. “We’ll see what their approach is against me.”
One of the reasons for Gonsolin’s success this season is that his fastball velocity has ticked up, which makes a dominant splitter look even better.
“I’m definitely trying to throw the fastball as hard as I can,” he noted. “Any velo above what it was last year is great. The splitter, I think is just a byproduct of the grip coming together and how it’s just worked this year with the adjustments we’ve made with it.”
Gonsolin did not have a reason for the increase in velocity, however. “I wouldn’t say there’s an explanation for it, he said. “Just kind of feeling more comfortable, doing a lot of delivery work in Spring Training and overall feeling better.”
The 26-year-old made his MLB debut for the Dodgers in 2019, pitching to an impressive 2.93 ERA in 40 innings. A big thing for him is getting comfortable pitching at the big league level, which he is continuing to do with each start.
“I’m way more comfortable,” Gonsolin said. “The team has gotten to know me a little bit, so the comfortability around all of them and openness of who I am as a person outside of baseball is a lot better, which just adds to on-the-field comfortability and trust.”
Alternate site games don’t compare to MLB games
Gonsolin is one of the few players on the Dodgers roster this season that has pitched in both the Majors and the team’s intrasquad games at their alternate training site at USC.
While he has used the latter to stay in shape, it doesn’t compare to pitching in an actual game for the Dodgers. “Nothing really compares to a normal game. I mean, the cardboard cutouts are the biggest difference this year, but traditionally with the fans, nothing can really compare,” he he began.
“There’s some added bragging rights we’ve put on with each other. I know when I face Gavin at USC, there’s a little bragging rights behind it. On Monday he got me twice, but then I got him, so it kind of evened out. Just try to have a lot of fun with it and stay sharp.”
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