June 14th, 2023 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It’s no secret that there was some concern before 29-year-old Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin took the mound at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night for his ninth start of the season against the American League Central third place Chicago White Sox. The reason for the concern is because he experienced what was described as fatigue and soreness following his previous start on June 6 against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati – fatigue and soreness which he himself described as “weird” but couldn’t explain why.
Fortunately for the Vacaville, CA native and Dodgers ninth-round draft pick in 2016 out of Saint Mary’s College of California in Moraga, CA, and even more so for the Dodgers, his weirdness was completely gone on Tuesday night, as the hard throwing 6′-3’/205-pound right-hander allowed no runs and only two hits, with two walks and six strikeouts in his 6.0 scoreless innings of work, matching his two longest outings of the season – the first against the Brewers in Milwaukee on May 8 and the second against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium on May 30.
Gonsolin credits Monday’s scheduled off day for helping his weirdness go away and for helping him regain his strength.
“I think the extra couple days really helped me,” Gonsolin told reporters postgame. “For whatever reason, I just didn’t come out of this last start super great. I was fortunate enough to have the extra days. I think it showed today that they were very useful.”
(SportsNet LA)
“He just mixed really well,” said Dodgers catcher Will Smith (on his bobblehead night) of Gonsolin’s fourth win of the season against one loss. “Mixed his curveball, changeup, spotted his fastball, slider as well. Just making pitches. They were chasing a little bit and took advantage, and overall, he got a bunch of soft contact, ground balls, weak flyouts, some strikeouts.”
“He’s going to be huge,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Gonsolin. “He’s an All-Star pitcher, so when he’s right and he’s healthy, he’s as good as anyone.”
As good as anyone is a good thing.
Play Ball!
* * * * * *
Posted in 
In some ways, Gonxolin is an enigma. Low ERA, excellent winning percentage — he finds ways to keep runners from scoring and opposing hitters off balance. Yet his strike out rate is an all time low, walks per 9 iP is up, fastball velocity is below ML average and continues to fall, and on average he is a 5 innings starter. (stats from fa graphs)