Los Angeles Dodgers: 2019 grades for every player

Tony Gonsolin: A

In terms of expectations, it is hard to give anything less than an A to Tony Gonsolin. The rookie pitcher was a big part of the pitching plan down the stretch and just barely hit our cut-off with exactly 40 innings pitched on the season.

He did not make the big-league club as Dustin May was the rookie pitcher to get the nod, although May does not make our cut-off for this article. Gonsolin may not have the same electric stuff as May but he did phenomenally for a rookie pitcher that was in High-A last season.

Gonsolin had a 2.93 ERA with 37 strikeouts. A 2.93 ERA is great for a rookie pitcher but it could have easily been much better.

Gonsolin had a rocky start in his MLB debut, allowing four runs in his first pro inning, which is understandable. However, he let up four runs on a bunt single, an infield single, an error and then a home run.

In his next appearance, he was throwing a perfect relief appearance and threw three and two-thirds innings without allowing a baserunner. Then, with two outs, Gonsolin allowed three base hits and a run to cross, ruining his perfect outing.

If you take out the combined four earned runs from those two outings then Gonsolin had a 2.03 ERA.