While I generally try to dabble in names that are under 65-ish% owned in most leagues, you know, the acronyms (ESPN, CBS, etc.) and the one platform named after the most-used word in the Simish language (YAHOO, WHAT ELSE WOULD IT BE PEOPLE), A.J. Pollock ended up making the cut through other criteria. And not just because I like nautical puns. Moreso, as the season begins to take it’s final form, a player like Pollock will naturally find himself in his own grey area. While recency bias kinda drives that point home now, i.e. he’s hot, how long will it last, should I buy-in, things like that, I have to be honest, it seems like we’ve been here before with him, and I guess the reason I’m dedicated my 1000ish words is to kinda figure out what’s going on now, if it’s happened before, and what we can expect from the impending roster glut… and if those answers can provide us our on finality of what Pollock actually is or what he’s going to do. I mean, he’s a baseball player, I know, and he’s going to do baseball things… but you get what I’m saying. MAYBE.
So for almost two months now, Pollock has put up a fantastic .300/.350/.530 triple-slash, fueling a resurgence both in power and steals, closing in on eclipsing last season’s totals after what appeared to be a bit of a drop-off earlier in the year. Granted, while I’ve said many times that 2020 is a something of a unique island, like the one from Lost (come back to the zeitgeist my good friend!), with the Smoke Monster playing the part of COVID, the year itself did show potential that perhaps Pollock had a bit more of that 15+ homerun power he had been averaging nearly his entire career. In fact, just to compare, Pollock’s 16 homeruns last season were hit in just 55 games. It took 86 games to hit his 15th back in 2019. His highest yearly homerun total was 21 back in 2018 and that was in 113 games.
Generally ranked in the top-50 of all outfielders the past three or so seasons, I doubt I could point to something new and fresh about Pollock that anyone would bother noticing. And while I started talking about the potential for Pollock to hit for even more power, it is about time I mentioned that of course the trade deadline fallout also drives this conversation about the Dodger outfielder. Now, considering everyone is healthy, I know I know, but it would seem likely that Chris Taylor would be in the outfield along with Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger due to the infield getting a bit crowded with Corey Seager, Trey Turner in the middle. This obviously is the worst case scenario for Pollock, but it’s hard to imagine the Dodgers would bench one of the hottest bats right now and just coming off another great performance, going 3-for-5 with a double, two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base.
And let’s take a quick look at those numbers as Pollock tries to show off his homage to 2018, a year when he had a career high in homeruns, but with a so-so average at .257. Not really known for that, he’s been steady with a career .288, but generally puts up more seasons closer to .260 than .300, but this season we’re getting the entire package thus far. With a triple-slash of .309/.361/.536, propped by a .353 BABIP (career .312), there are signs that this new hotness may not last, but I don’t quite think that’s such a big deal. Looking at what he’s been doing now via power production, compared to his career, I definitely like what I see. Less groundballs (37.6% this season compared to 45.7% for his career) and more flyballs (38.5% now, 34.3% career) is always a recipe for more homeruns. Especially when he’s hitting the ball slightly harder.
Now, this is all a lot to say I still like A.J. Pollock, but with the post-trade deadline roster being a bit of a jumble, there is a bit of consideration to be spent on how to operate with him moving forward. So I’m just here to say that yeah, the Dodgers might spread some at-bats around to others, but I just think Pollock is way too good at the moment to do that at a voluminous level. Been waiting several years to use “voluminous” in a post by the way.
But yes, the TL;DR would be, I like A.J. Pollock, you should too, and also, his power is for real, and is something that seems to be a skill that might stick around for a while. Especially if you consider last season’s crazy output, which in all fairness I made sure to keep separated. But if you look at the trends, you shouldn’t just be fishing for Pollock. You should be catching it.
I’m so sorry for that.
Jay is a longtime Razzball everything who is apparently a big fan of Disney’s Loki and consumes an egregious amount of Makers Mark as a vehicle to gain wisdom and augment his natural glow. Living in the D.C. area, he also likes spending time visiting the local parks and feeding lettuce to any turtles he encounters, including Mitch McConnell. You can follow him on Twitter @jaywrong.
