A little over a year after having Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin is starting a rehab game for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday. Gonsolin has not made a pitch for the Dodgers this season while he heals from a surgical procedure. After giving up five home runs and ten earned runs in his last start of the season, Gonsolin—who had been the Dodgers’ workhorse to open the season—was placed on the injured list due to irritation in his forearm. He subsequently had Tommy John surgery.
He disclosed in August of last year that he had been throwing through weeks of shoulder pain due to a ruptured UCL.
After being selected by the Dodgers in the ninth round of the 2016 MLB Draft, the 30-year-old Gonsolin started his career as a pitcher in the minor league ranks. He was an outfielder in college, but after pitching in the minor leagues, he was named the Dodgers’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2018 and made his MLB debut the following season. Gonsolin’s breakout season came in 2020, when the Dodgers were forced to postpone their season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, he pitched in nine games with eight starts, going 2-2 with a 2.31 ERA and 46 strikeouts, finishing fourth in the balloting for National League Rookie of the Year, behind the Milwaukee Brewers’ Devin Williams. Pitching in two of the six games in the series, Gonsolin contributed to the Dodgers’ victory over the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series that season. Every year since the 2020 campaign, injuries have affected Gonsolin. He was sidelined with inflammation in his shoulder at the beginning of the 2021 season and again during the season. Gonsolin had the finest season of his career in 2022. With a 2.14 ERA and 119 strikeouts—career highs—he went 16-1 across 24 starts. Despite playing in his first MLB All-Star Game, he ended up on the injured list toward the end because of a forearm strain.
Gonsolin was limited by an arm issue that persisted for the whole 2023 season. He started 20 games, but finished 8-5 with 82 strikeouts and a career-worst 4.98 ERA before his season ended prematurely, or late, depending on your point of view. Hopefully, he will start to resemble the pitcher he was before the 2023 season when he returns on Tuesday. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the starting pitcher, returns on Tuesday after being sidelined for more than two months due to a sprained rotator cuff. In his first game back, he will start against the Chicago Cubs.
