Dodgers Injury News: A.J. Pollock Likely Headed to IL With Elbow Injury
Finally, we may have a reason for the troubling early-season performance by A.J. Pollock. Indeed, when a successful big league veteran struggles for an extended period of time; injury can usually be questioned.
Furthermore, Dave Roberts shed light on this after Monday night’s 3-2 loss at San Francisco. Roberts told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com that Pollock has an infection in his right elbow. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager also stated that due to this, Pollock could soon end up on the injured list.
Dave Roberts said AJ Pollock has an infection in right elbow. Likely going on injured list.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 30, 2019
After signing a four-year, $55 million dollar contract; Pollock has appeared in 28 games for the Dodgers. In that time he has hit just .223 with two home runs and 14 runs batted in. Pollock has not stolen a base yet this season, unsuccessful in his only attempt.
Interestingly, Pollock did not start against the Giants on Monday night in favor of Alex Verdugo. This was the second time within two games that Pollock was not in the starting lineup.
While the timeline of when the injury initially occurred has not come to light, these details should make their way out in the coming days. It is also worth noting that outfielder Andrew Toles began baseball activities at Camelback Ranch on Monday. Toles could serve as a potential roster replacement for Pollock in the near-term.
Analysis:
Los Angeles will need to find someone to fill in the playing time for the veteran in Pollock’s absence. Equally important, Verdugo has earned the lion’s share of work for now. There is reason to believe that Chris Taylor could catch an opportunity for more playing time than his performance warrants due to this injury.
Dodgers’ fans must hope that after getting his health in order, Pollock can return to resemble the player he has been over the course of his career which began in 2012. Still, this is the type of strange injury that has become pattern-forming for Pollock in that time.
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Pollock going on the DL? Who’d guessed that? And oh boy, we’ve got 3+ more years of this.
An elbow infection does not constitute a “baseball” injury………
Joc, Verdugo and Bellinger is a good outfield, but all lefthanded. Taylor is the only right hander we have and he’s struggling offensively. Toles is also lefthanded. Hmm
It is all about splits….Verdugo is hitting left handed pitching well so far. Puig was right handed and had terrible splits. Look at the numbers not which side the guy bats.
Tmaxter, that is true but teams will now know that Dodgers are yet unbalanced on the roster. I know Verdugo has done well but this left handiness to an extreme will haunt the Dodgers. Last night Roberts had no other RH options so Joc had to bat against a tough LH reliever and did what most thought he would… strike out.
Too bad for Pollock however this comes at a great time for Verdugo if Roberts has half a brain, which is up for debate. If I were him I would write Verdugo’s name in the lineup with a sharpy and leave it there to see what the kid can do with steady at bats. Granted he is a rookie but the young man spent 4-5 years in the minors and has earned his shot. Plus he has shown with limited at bats that he is a disciplined hitter with good splits and a solid defensive player with a plus arm and good speed.
Trailing 3-2 in the ninth and Roberts pulls Verdugo who had a hit in the game batting .333 and substitutes Taylor batting .150 and has been clueless who promptly strikes out…Nice! The man is an idiot…He wants to be a good guy so badly a players manager he does stupid stuff. Cannot stand the man.
He will not make the hard decision he wants to be liked.
It’s why I have problems with Roberts right now but again, it’s probably in part a directive from that puppet master upstairs…
Tmax……….Thank You! Glad to see someone else thought that was a STUPID move. He is so obsessed with the RH/LH thing he pulled Verdugo for Taylor…….I was like “ur kidding, right Dave?”………..then Taylor promptly strikes out, of course. That move was colossal on the richter scale of stupid IMO. Any chance we had of scoring in the ninth now has to be done with one out. It was almost as if he did not want to try to tie up or win the game, almost as if he just wanted to get back to the hotel. Too bad too because Maeda and the defense busted their butts trying to keep Frisco off the scoreboard last nite.
Roberts has half a brain. Problem is, he has only half a brain. He doesn’t see what’s in front of his face.
How many games with “automatic-out” Taylor in the line-up batting in front of Barnes and pitcher’s spot(3-automatic-outs) will this cost the Dodgers in the standings?
Another 6 game losing streak is on the way and it’s going to be entirely due to their lefty strategy. Entirely self inflicted
Concur, but I just cannot figure out why Taylor has completely lost it, and at a bad time now with a lack of any RH hitting at all.
Clint you keep writing this garbage
when instructed by the Dodgers? The guy is hitting 220. You really think a infected elbow us the problem. It’s the excuse. They never have an unexplained injury when they are hitting 320. A infected elbow for 30 days? Seriously?
He cannot help what the Dodgers say………the Dodgers are telling everyone Pollock has an elbow infection from a previous surgical screw implant…….Clint did not just make this up………
Hard to tell what Clint makes up and what the Dodgers tell him to say.the point was the Dodgers use a 26 man roster, moving slumping players in and with fake injuries.
Dodgers Fans do you think Verdugo can succeed batting lead-off or do you prefer Pederson there? Obviously if there’s a LHP, Pederson disappears which is problematic. Or do you prefer Verdugo batting further down where he is right now? How about batting Verdugo behind Bellinger, so 5th, to protect him. With Pollack(IL), Turner and Seager struggling , Hernandez, returning to normal the Dodgers line-up is inconsistent.
Even though Pollock has this elbow issue and batting about .220, they still need to replace him with another RHB when he does hit the IL. We are now so unbalanced as it is that don’t think for a minute that teams will now really load up with LHP against this team and we are in for some tough times if this is not rectified. With the depth Dodgers claim to have, why they are so lacking with RHB is way beyond me and it WILL cost the team, bank it.
Dodgers are bringing up Matt Beaty to replace Pollock ……he plays first base, third base too, but has played in the outfield………he is considered to be the best hitter we have in our farm system right now……….but he BATS left handed…….just saying…………
The only infection I know that requires surgery is MRSA. Athletes will get that on cuts, ad elbows are an easy place to get cut and have the bacteria enter. Dirty locker rooms don’t help. Hope, whatever it is, is fixed up soon.