The Los Angeles Dodgers have tapped into their organizational depth over the past handful of seasons, and next are doing so by calling up Tony Gonsolin from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The right-hander is making his MLB debut in Wednesday’s start against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Gonsolin follows in the footsteps of fellow pitching prospects Ross Stripling, Julio Urias, Walker Buehler, Dennis Santana and Caleb Ferguson in joining the Dodgers for the first time in recent years.
Timing with a few of the cases have come as a bit of a surprise, and that certainly applies to Gonsolin. This is his first time pitching at the Triple-A level, and he missed six weeks because of an oblique strain.
Nevertheless, now poised to make his debut, Gonsolin is experiencing the type of emotions one would suspect any rookie faces, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“My heart started racing. I started sweating immediately,” he said. “Excitement, nervousness, anxious – all the emotions just kind of flooded me at once. It was nice to have yesterday as a full day to kind of soak it in and be ready to go tomorrow.”
Though, Gonsolin’s angst does not stem from a lack of belief in himself:
“With my stuff, I feel I can compete with anybody. So I think I’ve just got to go out there and trust that my stuff is going to work. See what happens. Control what I can control.”
Prior to having his contract selected by the Dodgers, the 25-year-old went 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in eight starts for Oklahoma City. He collected 31 strikeouts against 13 walks in just 26 innings pitched.
Gonsolin takes the mound at Chase Field on five days’ rest, though still may not be long for the game as he has not pitched more than five innings in a single start this season.
The outing may be nothing more than a spot start for Gonsolin as the Dodgers are looking to provide regular members of their rotation with an extra day of rest between starts. However, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman previously did not rule out Gonsolin or Dustin May joining the club this season as reinforcements for the bullpen.
