Tony Gonsolin has yet to make his 2023 season debut, but he continues to inch closer toward returning to the Los Angeles Dodgers rotation.
Gonsolin initially sprained his ankle while walking off the field during a workout at Camelback Ranch early in Spring Training. The hope was he would recover quickly, but it set him back enough to force the right-hander to open the season on the 15-day injured list.
He is currently building up his arm and facing batters, although Dodgers manager Dave Roberts initially indicated that didn’t go particularly well, as seen on SportsNet LA:
“It was OK. I think he’s going to come here on Saturday or Sunday to throw a ‘pen and stick around for the game. He got through it, which was the most important thing.”
Gonsolin then threw a bullpen session at Chase Field on Friday and bounced back well from facing hitters. In addition, Roberts liked how the right-hander’s pitches were looking:
“Tony was good. I think the other day at CBR, it was just OK as far as how he felt and how he was throwing the baseball. But today, I think it was right around 32 pitches. Really good. I stood in on him. It was pretty encouraging.”
The hope is Gonsolin can return near the end of April. He essentially needed a full month to build up his arm after he was shut down, and he is likely going to need to make multiple rehab starts.
When Gonsolin is activated off the IL, he should slot into the rotation spot currently held by Michael Grove, pending any other injuries.
Gonsolin is looking to build on last season when he went 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA and 0.87 WHIP over 24 starts while earning a first career All-Star Game selection.
Tony Gonsolin worked to improve mechanics
Although Gonsolin would have preferred to be healthy to start the season, he has used time on the IL to improve his mechanics.
“I feel like I’m in a better spot now, actually,” Gonsolin recently said. “I started to create a little bad habit with landing. 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.”
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