Dodgers All-Star Pitcher Suffers Injury, Officially Out of Opening Day Rotation

Aug 15, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (right) and pitching coach Mark Prior look on from the dugout in the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers have made a decision on the fifth starter in their rotation — or rather, a decision has been made for them.

All-Star right-hander Tony Gonsolin suffered a back injury while lifting weights, per manager Dave Roberts, and won't be ready for the start of the season.

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Roberts said Dustin May will get the final spot in the starting rotation to open the season.

”I think it’s Dustin because, he’s obviously pitched well, getting back,” Roberts said on Dodgers Territory Monday night. “Tony with the little hiccup, just not being able to build up. I think Dustin makes a lot of sense.”

Both May and Gonsolin have been battling back from their respective injuries to get to this point as neither have touched a major league mound since the middle of the 2023 campaign.

May was first sidelined in May 2023 to undergo surgery on a flexor tendon in his elbow. As he was mere weeks away from returning to action last year, a rogue piece of lettuce caused him to suffer a torn esophagus that led to emergency surgery, 11 days in the hospital, and more time spent away from baseball. 

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Gonsolin, on the other hand, was looking like the front-runner to edge out May for the final spot in the rotation.

After his first All-Star season in 2022 saw him go 16-1 with a 2.14 ERA, Gonsolin was only able to pitch until August 2023 before undergoing Tommy John surgery. 

May will be the final piece on a completely revamped Dodgers rotation looking to make its mark in 2025.

Headlined by Yoshinobu Yamamoto — the Opening Day starter in Japan — international phenom Roki Sasaki, two-time Cy Young award winner Blake Snell, and All-Star Tyler Glasnow, May will take up the final spot in the rotation until Shohei Ohtani is able to return to his two-way status.

After 21 months away from the mound, May will make his long-awaited return to major league play and do whatever he can to help the Dodgers become baseball’s first back-to-back champions in a quarter-century.

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