Caturdays Are For the Boys
Letting the cat out of the bag on Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin’s wardrobe
Oklahoma City Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin had a busy offseason.
After being named the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Branch Rickey Minor League Pitcher of the Year for a breakout 2018 season with High-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Tulsa, Gonsolin went to a wedding and visited Hawaii for the third time. When he returned from his vacation, he received his first invite to Major League Spring Training with the Dodgers.
But news outlets also pounced on another important story related to Gonsolin.
The reason? A cat shirt.
Early in 2019 Spring Training at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., Gonsolin started wearing cat shirts — and people noticed.
Gonsolin said he has always been a cat person, so every Saturday he wears cat shirts in honor of, you guessed it, Caturday.
“Every single Saturday is just a day to bring appreciation to cats,” Gonsolin said. “It’s very easy to rhyme ‘cat’ with ‘sat,’ so Caturday just flows easily. It’s just a day to wear a shirt that has a cat on it.”
The Los Angeles Dodgers posted a picture on Twitter of Gonsolin in a cat shirt next to manager Dave Roberts.
He was featured on an episode of Backstage: Dodgers on SportsNet LA, a regional sports network dedicated exclusively to the Dodgers.
Dodgers pitcher Joe Kelly borrowed one of Gonsolin’s shirts to wear during a bullpen.
Reporter Pedro Moura even wrote about Caturday on The Athletic.
“It was definitely really cool to have that kind of support, I guess, to make me feel more comfortable in Spring Training — that being my first big league Spring Training — to receive that type of support,” Gonsolin said. “I just like coming to the field on Saturdays and have people say: ‘Happy Caturday.’ That’s really cool. Definitely makes me feel good that guys are recognizing it and support it.”
Gonsolin, a ninth-round pick out of Saint Mary’s in 2016, began his public feline quest back in 2017 during his first full season of pro ball.
“I just always liked cats, and my roommates knew I liked cats and our pitching coach actually just randomly got me a random $5 cat shirt,” Gonsolin said. “That’s pretty much how the shirts started. In 2017, it just kind of evolved from that one shirt and now I have like 10 shirts.”
Of course, a common question Gonsolin gets is: ‘Why don’t you like cats?’
But that’s not the case.
“I’ve always had cats, always had dogs, so I’m pretty even with both of them,” Gonsolin said. “I can’t really say I side with either one, but I’d say I lean a little bit more towards cats.”
Gonsolin has made eight starts with the OKC Dodgers during his first Triple-A action. In 26.0 innings pitched this season, he has allowed eight earned runs and 20 hits with 31 strikeouts and 13 walks, while holding opponents to a .202 batting average. He missed more than five weeks of the season starting in mid-April due to a side strain, but has slowly been building up his workload as he once again becomes a regular member of the Dodgers’ starting rotation.
He entered 2019 ranked as the Dodgers’ eighth overall prospect by Baseball America after leading Dodgers minor league pitchers in ERA (2.60), wins (10) and strikeouts (155) last season.
Many pitchers have the same strict pregame routine prior to every start. For Gonsolin, however, there is a little adaptation for starts that happen to fall on Caturday.
“On Caturdays when I’m not (starting), I just go to the field, get my work in and watch the game,” Gonsolin said. “I show up in a cat shirt, change into my normal stuff and go about my day. On days that I’m pitching that are on Caturday, I have my start day attire that I always wear. So, I’ll wear that to the field and I’ll put a cat shirt on, go about my warm up stuff with the cat shirt on and hang it up in my locker so it’s out and everyone can see it if they walk about the clubhouse.”
Since many teams have “bark in the ballpark” nights, which allow fans to bring their furry barking friends into the ballpark, one may wonder what a “meow in the ballpark” night might look like. Surprisingly, Gonsolin advised against the idea.
“I mean, I wouldn’t really recommend it,” Gonsolin said. “Cats are a little territorial sometimes, so if you put them all into one spot it could get a little messy. Whereas dogs and ‘bark in the park,’ you can kind of train them to be OK around other dogs and that none of them are trying to fight for some territory. It’s a little different story with cats.”
For those interested in purchasing a Caturday shirt of their own, Gonsolin said you can go almost anywhere to find quality feline-centric apparel.
“Just like cats, (cat shirts) come in different shapes and sizes, so you can get them anywhere,” Gonsolin said.
