Tony Gonsolin’s 2023 debut may be imminent, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya) that Gonsolin will “likely” be activated from the 15-day injured list to start Wednesday’s game against the Pirates. It won’t be a full start, as Gonsolin is expected to pitch around four innings before giving way to the bullpen.
Though it may yet take a few outings for Gonsolin to fully ramp up, his return is surely good news for Los Angeles. The right-hander suffered a fluke injury in early March, as he sprained his ankle while walking off the field following a Spring Training fielding drill. The sprain was relatively minor in nature, but the timing wasn’t ideal, as Gonsolin first had to get healthy and then make up for the lost prep time from spring camp.
Fortunately, the recovery process seems to have gone smoothly, as Gonsolin will head back to the majors after only one minor league rehab outing. Gonsolin had been expected to make at least one more rehab start, and he’ll beat the initial projected timeline of a May return, as suggested by Roberts two weeks ago. Naturally Gonsolin and the Dodgers must feel comfortable enough about the righty’s healthy to activate him somewhat early, but the decision may have also been influenced by Michael Grove’s placement on the 15-day IL, as Grove (Gonsolin’s rotation replacement) has been sidelined by a groin strain.
Los Angeles has an off-day on Monday to reset its rotation, as well as upcoming off-days on May 4 and 11. While the schedule doesn’t quite allow for the Dodgers to avoid the need for a fifth starter altogether, having Gonsolin in even a limited capacity should be able to fill the gap left by Grove’s injury.
Gonsolin is looking for a follow-up to an outstanding 2022 season, as the right-hander made his first All-Star Game while posting a 2.14 ERA over 130 1/3 innings. The injury bug unfortunately put a damper on Gonsolin’s great year, as a forearm strain sidelined him for all of September, and he returned for just one more regular-season appearance and then an abbreviated (1 1/3 inning) start in Game 3 of the NLDS.
Ace_
Urias has around 450 million reasons to go to free agency.
fred-3
He’ll get half of that, maybe
Thomas Walker
Fred, meet Ace. You’re gonna hate him.
utah cornelius
Please don’t feed the troll.
baseballandbrews
Technically, Grove was Pepiot’s replacement who was replacing Gonsolin. Hope all get well soon enough!!
DCartrow
Tony, you been gonsolong!
Welcome back!
Cap & Crunch
Lotta early bricks being stacked on Noah and Tony G to round out the rotation.
Our season probably hinges on what we get outta those 2 rotation spots ROS
Offence will get a tad better but lets make no mistake its not a top 1/3 offence in the league
Pen – Needs to get better but these things are too hard to predict what direction they will go in – Could get worse ( Wtf is Vessia still doing here?)
* I will say Sept should be lively with youth for us on the mound- Good possibility we see some Miller -Stone-Pepoit bullets being used on the regular in what looks like a Sept we will be fighting uphill while throwing anything at the wall that sticks
Cam
The Dodgers are 5th in the Majors in runs scored so far.
You expect the offense to get a “tad better”, but say they’re “not a top 1/3 offense”.
Those things don’t add up. How can they get better than what they are now – top 5 – but not be good enough for top 10?
dodgerskingsfan
Best thing is dodgers have the trade deadline to sort it out.
BlueSkies_LA
Feels like the Dodgers are already throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks and about the only one that has so far is Outman. And Vesia isn’t the only problem with a bullpen that also includes Almonte and several other combustibles.
Old York
Dodgers on there way to 2023 world series champions.