Monday, March 10, 2025

Copyrighted by Sarah Morris, 2025

 A couple of days before the Los Angeles Dodgers depart from Arizona to Tokyo, Tony Gonsolin sustained an injury in the weight room, making Dustin May the fifth starter in the starting rotation.

After missing almost two years with a Tommy John surgical revision and a torn esophagus, May has impressed this spring. He has averaged 85.2 mph with a tremendous spin rate. His pitches have moved a ton, but he can locate his pitches within the strike zone. While May can’t go long in games, he can give the Dodgers what they need.

Tyler Glasnow has looked great this spring after not pitching after August 12th in the 2024 season since he had an inflamed right elbow. He made a minor adjustment to lessen the stress on his right elbow, and this didn’t harm his effectiveness. If he can stay healthy, he can have a special 2025 season.

After facing him for many years, Blake Snell signed with the Dodgers to be their ace. Recently, Snell revealed he has wanted to be a Dodger for long time. As a sole left-handed starter in the Dodger rotation, he needs to be good. This spring he has been awful, but Snell is a notoriously slow starter.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been the best starter, earning his Opening Day assignment. While he missed a large portion of the 2024 season with a strained rotator cuff, Yamamoto pitched fantastically during the postseason. Coming in spring training, Yamamoto is in the best shape of his life. In his four spring training starts, he pitched 13 innings and struck out 14.

Roki Sasaki is the wild card that nobody knows. In this spring, Sasaki has been learning American baseball. He impressed everyone in his first spring training start. He has a brilliant fastball and a devastating splitter, but the Dodgers need and want him to learn a breaking ball.

Undoubtedly, Tony Gonsolin will make a contribution to the 2025 season if he is healthy. The Dodgers have enough depth in the starting rotation, so the injury to Gonsolin is not devastating.