Dodgers: Tony Gonsolin Calls it a ‘Luxury’ Having Max Scherzer to Learn From
Despite back to back rocky outings, Max Scherzer has been an absolute game changer since being traded to the Dodgers at the deadline. He’s started 11 games in LA with the team winning all 11 (thanks in part to some magic last night at Dodger Stadium) along the way. But beyond the wins, he’s also bringing a wealth of Hall of Fame knowledge to the team and his new teammates are soaking that up.
For example, fellow right-hander Tony Gonsolin was giddy to have another legend to pick the brain of. One that throws from the same side as him. The Cat-Man joined AM570’s David Vassegh on an Instagram chat earlier this week where he talked about having Max join the pitching staff.
It’s been a great luxury to have someone like Scherzer on the team. Like, we already have Kersh, we’ve had guys like Rich [Hill] and David Freese and Russell Martin to talk to. Albert Pujols now. But it’s awesome to get a pretty solidified Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher on our squad now. So I’ve been bouncing questions off of him left and right and it’s been incredible.
Since his return from the injured list with a second bout of shoulder inflammation, Gonsolin has yielded good, not great results. He’s made 3 starts and 1 relief appearance, allowing 6 runs over 15.1 innings pitched. However, his last outing may have been his best of the season as he recorded 7 strikeouts but, more importantly, issued no walks. Something that’s plagued him all season (32 walks over 51 IP).
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Now, Tony says he’s feeling better than he has all season physically. But, he also pointed to changes with some of the in between start stuff as a reason for that success in his recent outing. Stuff he’s tried to pick up from Max Scherzer.
I think just the execution of the pitches and the scouting that kind of goes into it pre outing. Every time I go out to throw, or every time he goes out to throw, the work that he does before he even throws a baseball is… I don’t know if anybody works harder than he does or does more scouting than he does.
Gonsolin gets the ball tonight in Los Angeles for what should be his final tune-up before the postseason.
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