The Role of A.J. Pollock
By Thomas Lynch
I know, the big story today surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks is their brawl with the Los Angeles Dodgers in a game they lost late by a score of 5-3. Our own Christian Moffet wrote about the fight beautifully in a post you can check out here. Moving past the chaos and into the eighth inning, A.J. Pollock gave the D’backs a brief lead when he came off the bench to lace a double before scoring on Willie Bloomquist‘s single. As Pollock steamed around third to score, I kept thinking to myself that given his production in 2013, where does Pollock fit into the team’s plans both now and in the future?
A.J. Pollock could be playing every day somewhere else. Image: Jennifer Hilderbrand-USA TODAY Sports Images
Pressed into a starting role because of injuries in Spring Training to Adam Eaton and Cody Ross, Pollock started the year with a bang going 3 for 4 in the season’s first game. After that came an 0 for 13 stretch before a 3 for 5 performance on April 10th. For the year, Pollock is batting .264 but with a paltry on base percentage of .290. He does have 18 doubles, good for fourth in the National League. While not great numbers, they aren’t terrible and on a lesser team he might be playing every day. Nevertheless, if and when Eaton comes back, the D’backs have to figure out what to do with a crowded outfield. Pollock has proven there is nothing left for him at Triple A and deserves to stay with the big club. He could be used as trade bait around the deadline. But will the D’backs have any needs? One would think that with so many players injured, their projected returns (think Aaron Hill and Daniel Hudson) will be better than a trade as the team won’t have to surrender anyone. That is a topic for a different day.
With the team in first place, I’d rather not speculate about what the team might do this coming offseason. Maybe Pollock goes to a team where he can play every day. I hope the D’backs hold onto him for the remainder of the season because as proven last night, he at least has value as a guy coming off the bench. When a team is winning, this is what you call a good problem.
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