Dodgers: Trea Turner Has Quickly Learned that Tony Gonsolin is No Paper Tiger
During Friday night’s game,Tony Gonsolin took care of business, as he normally does. The right handed pitcher, who debuted in only 2019, pushed a no-hit bid into the seventh inning at Kaufmann Stadium. This was his second time this season he dealt a hit-less 5 innings or more.
This was no surprise to his teammates though, including Trea Turner who’s watched him grow in his major league career since Turner joined the team last summer (quote via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register).
“He works really hard in between starts, whether it’s in the weight room or on the mound in his bullpen sessions. And he’s a really smart guy. When you’ve got all that going for you, I think it’s pretty easy seeing why he’s having success.”
The two-time All-Star shortstop also had this to say about his first impression of the Catman:
“I knew the numbers were good. But I knew the volume was… fairly limited because he’s still fairly new in his career. But the stats were good and it was just a matter of him continuing to work and do his thing and he’s done that.”
Gonsolin, who currently owns the fourth-best ERA (2.24) in the the majors among pitchers with a minimum of 110 ip, had himself quite the game Friday while also securing his 14th victory this season, tying Atlanta’s Kyle Wright for the NL lead.
The All-Star pitcher delivered 3 K’s and was able to lower his ERA to 2.24 after Friday night’s game. He just needed 45 pitches to retire the first 15 batters in order. Turner added onto this:
“Man, he got ahead of everybody…I felt like he was getting strike one with multiple pitches whether it was the heater, the curveball or the splitter.”
Let’s take breakdown Gonsolin’s four types of pitches according to baseball savant.mlb.com:
- 4-seamer: 696 pitches, BA: .255, Whiff%: 17.0, K%: 14.5
- Splitter: 496 pitches, BA: .126, Whiff%: 30.8, K%: 34.2
- Slider: 394 pitches, BA: -11, .128, Whiff%: 36.2, K%: 23.1
- Curveball: 217 pitches, BA: .150, Whiff%: 25.0, K%: 19.0
All-around, Gonsolin really does have the perfect toolkit for putting away batters as he’s delivered 105 strikeouts in his 116 innings pitched this season. Let’s just hope Roberts is right about Goose not burning out before the postseason.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!
NEXT: Royals Honor Vin Scully Before First Pitch at Kauffman Stadium
