In a perfect world, Tony Gonsolin would continue to progress on his minor league rehab assignment, continuing to build up his innings much like a spring training plan. But a potential Dodgers need for a major league starting pitcher next week could complicate things.

For his part, Gonsolin was fantastic on Wednesday night in Triple-A Oklahoma City, striking out seven in his 3⅓ innings against the Round Rock Express in Texas. Gonsolin allowed only a single, walk, and an unearned run in his outing.

Gonsolin among his 46 pitches ht got 14 swinging strikes, including eight in 12 swings on the splitter alone.

He pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings last Thursday in his first rehab start for Oklahoma City.

The Dodgers won’t rush Gonsolin back from the back tightness that sidelined him during spring training. As Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register noted Wednesday, Dave Roberts said this week he’d like to stretch to five or six innings before returning.

But this hasn’t stopped them before.

In 2023, Gonsolin injured his ankle in spring training and missed the first month of the season. The initial plan for his rehab was to pitch four innings in his first start in Triple-A, then go five innings in another rehab start before getting activated.

What did happen was Gonsolin struck out seven in three-plus innings for Oklahoma City, then was pressed into major league duty the next time out even though he wasn’t fully stretched out. Gonsolin in his first game back with the Dodgers pitched 3⅓ scoreless innings but was pulled after 65 pitches.

As for this year’s Dodgers, they will have another stretch of six days in a row with a game starting Friday, and the trio of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, and Tyler Glasnow starting for the second weekend in a row, plus Dustin May next week. But they’ll still need to fill innings for Tuesday and Wednesday against the Rockies.

Landon Knack may or may not stay in the rotation slot earmarked for Blake Snell, who will miss at least one more start on the injured list. Justin Wrobleski was optioned on Wednesday and must remain in the minors for 15 days unless returning to replace another injured player. Bobby Miller would be the other major-league-ready starter in Triple-A, and they have Nick Frasso who has gone two, two, and three innings in his three games if the Dodgers opt for a bullpen game for one of those games.

Or they could just turn to Gonsolin for what would be a shorter start but perhaps not all that different than what they might expect from the other options.