Dodgers: How Tony Gonsolin transformed himself into one of baseball’s best arms
Opener. That was the word many would use to describe Tony Gonsolin of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It’s a fairly new baseball term that describes a starting pitcher who usually only pitches two or three innings and then hands the ball off to the bullpen.
For his first few starts, this was the role for Tony Gonsolin with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But this year was different.
Gonsolin was “opening” games exceptionally well, with an elite strikeout rate and efficiency. Why not more? It’s a question the Los Angeles Dodgers began to ask themselves, and the reason why Gonsolin began to press deeper into ballgames.
On Friday against the San Diego Padres, Gonsolin had the longest outing of his career, going 7.2 innings with one earned run and eight strikeouts. This outing is one of many that has helped maintain his league-best 1.54 ERA.
But what’s changed this year? According to his pitch mix, Gonsolin’s fastball usage rate has dropped from 43.6% (2021) to 36.8% (2022). In an interview with MLB’s Pregame Spread, Gonsolin said, “I feel like my fastball gets hit pretty hard when I do throw it. Throwing it a little less gives me a better chance for a foul ball, swing, and a miss, or someone to be just a bit late on it. That’s been helping out a lot this year.”
To compensate for the lower fastball usage, Gonsolin has upped his splitter usage rate from 21.7% (2021) to 28.2% (2022). Its heavier use has brought even more effectiveness. According to FanGraphs, Gonsolin’s splitter had a 4.4 “runs above average” effectiveness in 2021 and, in 2022, it ascended to 13.3. Gonsolin’s slider has ascended from 1.5 runs above average to 8.8. With a fastball that gets hit around, Gonsolin has truly been carried by his nasty offspeed mix.
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Currently, Gonsolin is 10-0 with a 1.54 ERA. We often hear that Mookie Betts and Trea Turner are the reason the Dodgers are in first place, but what about Gonsolin? With Walker Buehler and Dustin May on the IL, Clayton Kershaw being injury-riddled, and losing Max Scherzer to free agency, this thin Dodgers starting rotation has been carried by a Cy Young-caliber performance from the breakout stud (so far) this season.