Proper-hander Tony Gonsolin grew to become the most recent Dodgers pitcher to hit the injured record over the weekend, however an MRI to judge his ailing elbow confirmed that his surgically repaired ulnar collateral ligament is undamaged, writes Invoice Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned there’s no timetable but for Gonsolin to renew throwing. An actual prognosis of his damage stays unclear.
Even with the unsure outlook, it’s a sigh of aid for the Dodgers that Gonsolin isn’t going through renewed harm in that UCL. One other tear would’ve sidelined him greater than a 12 months and presumably saved him out via the tip of the 2026 season. That’d doubtless have ended Gonsolin’s Dodgers tenure, as he’s owed a increase on a $5.4MM wage this offseason and is just underneath membership management via the 2026 marketing campaign. Any damage that threatens to wipe out important time in 2026 would end in a non-tender.
The 31-year-old Gonsolin’s return from his 2023 Tommy John process has been a blended bag. He’s pitched in seven large league video games this 12 months, wanting sharp out of the gate (2.81 ERA, 21-to-4 Ok/BB ratio in his first 16 innings) earlier than stumbling over his previous 4 journeys to the mound. Since Could 18, Gonsolin has confronted the Angels, Mets (twice) and Yankees. He’s surrendered a mixed 15 runs in 20 innings and served up 20 hits with an unsightly 17-to-14 Ok/BB ratio. A whopping seven of these hits have been dwelling runs.
Gonsolin is one in all eight beginning pitchers on the injured record — a quantity that doesn’t even embody Shohei Ohtani, who’s nonetheless working his approach again towards a return to the mound. Entrance-line arms like Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell have barely pitched this 12 months and are on the 60-day IL in the intervening time. Touted younger arms like Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, Kyle Damage and Gavin Stone opened the season on the injured record — the primary three recovering from 2024 Tommy John procedures and the latter on the mend from a shoulder operation that’s more likely to value him all the 2025 season. Prized younger right-hander Roki Sasaki has been out for a month now attributable to a shoulder impingement.
In the intervening time, the Dodgers have a wholesome Yoshinobu Yamamoto atop the rotation. He’s adopted by franchise icon Clayton Kershaw, right-hander Dustin Could and southpaw Justin Wrobleski. Veteran José Ureña is working a multi-inning function within the bullpen however has intensive expertise as a beginning pitcher. Rotation choices down in Triple-A and already on the 40-man roster embody Landon Knack, Bobby Miller, Nick Frasso and Matt Sauer. Frasso and Miller have struggled within the minors this 12 months. Knack has been hit exhausting in seven large league begins. Sauer has been sharp in Triple-A and regarded strong in a swingman function throughout restricted MLB time.
Even with that laundry record of accidents, nevertheless, common supervisor Brandon Gomes downplayed his crew’s must exit and purchase beginning pitching forward of subsequent month’s commerce deadline. Chatting with Jon Heyman of the New York Put up, Gomes acknowledged: “With the data we have now, and the place the fellows are actually and progressing, the expectation is we may have all we’d like in-house.”
There may very well be some gamesmanship at play there, after all. It’s additionally notable that these feedback got here earlier than Gonsolin’s placement on the injured record. Additional damage troubles or setbacks for any of their on-mend-arms within the subsequent six weeks can all the time heighten the necessity for out of doors assist.
As issues stand, the Dodgers do seem to have some near-term assistance on the horizon. The aforementioned Sheehan is about 13 months faraway from his Tommy John surgical procedure and is already on a minor league rehab task. He’s made three begins — one within the Rookie-level Complicated League and two in Triple-A — and tallied 9 innings of one-run ball with 14 strikeouts and only one stroll (plus one other plunked batter).
Sheehan tossed 57 pitches in his most up-to-date outing on June 7. He’ll presumably want at the least yet another rehab begin — very doubtless one other couple — earlier than he’s an choice to rejoin the massive league membership, however Sheehan is a former top-100 prospect and remains to be simply 25 years previous. The appropriate-hander’s 96.3 mph common fastball is definitely up a bit from his pre-surgery ranges, although it’s value allowing for that he’s nonetheless successfully throwing quick stints and thus not working into any velocity decline as he turns a lineup over two or 3 times. Regardless, his rehab work is encouraging, and Sheehan may very well be an choice to assist the massive league workers earlier than the tip of the month.
