Prospect Retrospective: AJ Pollock

AJ Pollock swings in a 2013 game for the Diamondbacks. /AP

If it was not for a Johnny Cueto fastball that ran up and in on a check swing, AJ Pollock might have spent the All-Star break in Minnesota as a member of the national league all-stars, instead of rehabbing from a broken hand. Pollock was enjoying an career year, hitting .316 and ranking near the league-leaders in WAR before going down. 

As everyone knows, Pollock was a member of the 2007 Vermont Mountaineers. I wrote a feature on here discussing the majors, but I've decided to dig into his minor league career and the ups and downs he faced. Pollock has an interesting story, so here goes. 

Pollock hit .372/.464/.474 as a freshman at Notre Dame and came to Vermont, where he earned 10th man honors. He returned to South Bend for another productive year (.352/.414/.505) before taking the prestigious Cape Cod League by storm and earning league MVP honors. He caught the Diamondbacks attention and was taken 17th overall after a strong junior season.

He didn't go anywhere, staying in Notre Dame as the Diamondbacks Rookie league affiliate was located in South Bend. Here's his Baseball America scouting report after his 2009 season where he hit .271 in 63 games and was ranked Arizona's third top prospect.

Pollock with Falmouth /CCBL

"Pollock's best tool is his bat, and his bat speed, strong hands and line-drive approach should allow him to hit for high average. He has gap power, slightly above-average speed and good instincts on the bases. He's a quality defender with an average arm in center field. In addition to his all-around athleticism, he also has strong makeup. Some scouts take a glass-half-empty view and say Pollock doesn't do anything particularly well beyond hit. He showed a tendency to get out on his front foot during the spring at Notre Dame, but he has a calmer approach with wood bats. His swing can get flat at times, limiting his power. Pollock projects as a solid major league leadoff hitter and center fielder, mostly because he knows how to affect games with his skill set. He could start 2010 in Double-A and will certainly get there at some point during the season. He's on the fast track to Arizona." -BA

A freak injury during a spring training fielding drill required shoulder surgery and set him on the sidelines for the entire 2010 season, derailing him from the fast track to the majors. Baseball America dropped him to their No. 6 Diamondbacks prospect.

"He spent his downtime working on conditioning, especially strengthening his lower half, before returning to play in instructional league and the Arizona Fall League. Other than his bat, Pollock may not have a plus tool, but he has well-rounded skills and instincts that let him play above his physical ability. He uses his quick hands to stroke line drives from gap to gap. He won't have big-time power but could develop into a 15-homer threat. His speed is slightly above average and he runs the bases well. Pollock reads balls well and covers a lot of ground in center field, and he had an average arm before he hurt his elbow. Pollock projects as a solid big league regular or at least a quality fourth outfielder on a contender. He was on the fast track prior to his injury, so he could jump to Double-A to begin 2011." -BA

Pollock with Mobile in 2011. /Mobile

Pollock returned in 2011 with Double-A Mobile and hit .307 in 133 games with 71 RBIs and was ranked the Southern League's No. 14 prospect. He moved up to the Diamondbacks No. 5 prospect after leading Mobile to the championship.

"He looked as good as ever when he returned in 2011, leading the Southern League in runs (103) and hits (169) while helping Mobile to the championship. Pollock's total package is greater than the sum of its parts. First and foremost, he's a blue-collar player with great makeup and excellent instincts in all phases of the game. He's a line-drive, gap-to-gap hitter who squares balls up consistently and produces lots of doubles. He could develop 15-homer power once he gets stronger. He makes contact so easily that it hampers his ability to draw walks. Though he has just average speed, Pollock is the system's best baserunner and stole 36 bases in 43 tries in 2011. He's solid defensively at all three outfield positions, making good reads in center field and displaying an average arm. Pollock is ready for a move to Triple-A in 2012 and could fill a need at the big league level at some point in the season. Though some scouts see him as a fourth outfielder because he isn't loaded with plus tools, the Diamondbacks envision him becoming a solid regular." -BA

Pollock with Reno. /Reno

He then hit .318 in Reno, a minor league high for him and earned a callup for 31 games. He hit just .247 with 11 strikeouts but added eight runs and eight RBIs. He dropped to the No. 10 prospect by BA.

"The Diamondbacks expected Pollock to move quickly after signing him for $1.4 million as the 17th overall pick in 2009, but he missed the following season when he fractured a growth plate in his right elbow during spring training. He has made up for lost time by batting .312 in the upper minors during the last two seasons and getting three separate big league callups in 2012. Pollock’s total package is more than the sum of its parts, with only his bat and makeup grading better than average. He’s a gap-to-gap hitter who makes reliable contact but has yet to develop much over-the-fence power. The ball does come off his bat well, so Arizona believes he will eventually produce 10-15 homers per year. Pollock makes the most of his average speed, running the bases well and showing annual 20-steal potential. He’s capable of playing all three outfield positions, getting good reads and displaying an average arm that’s enough to handle right field. Scouts are split on Pollock, with some seeing him as a solid regular in center field and others thinking he profiles best as a fourth outfielder. The Diamondbacks have no shortage of starting outfield candidates in Adam Eaton, Jason Kubel, Gerardo Parra and Justin Upton, so Pollock will have to settle for a reserve role in 2013." -BA

Pollock came back in 2013 and hit .269 in his rookie season, earning a spot on Baseball America's All-Rookie team. One of the best defensive outfielders in baseball, Pollock was off to a scorching start at the plate as well in 2014. He had a slash line of .316/.366/.554 through 52 games and made the Diamondbacks feel comfortable after trading away fellow rookie Adam Eaton to the White Sox.

Arizona manager Kirk Gibson hinted at the start of a rehab assignment in early August. He successfully underwent surgery at the start of June.

Former Mountaineer makes splash in MLB

Pollock scores on a Paul Goldschmidt sacrifice fly. /AP Photo

PHOENIX, Ariz. — Cliff Lee has established a reputation as strike-thrower who rarely loses control —he owns a 40:4 strikeout to walk ratio through 40 innings in this young season. Stoic and confident, Lee is frequently a batter’s nightmare. He got the start for the Phillies on April 26, looking to beat the struggling then-8-18 Arizona Diamondbacks.

Lee toed the rubber at 5:10 p.m. Pacific Time and reared back for his first pitch, unleashing an 89 mph four-seam fastball that would’ve painted the bottom of the strike zone, but AJ Pollock was ready and slapped a line drive through the first base side and into left field.

He was nearly picked off attempting to steal second but managed to get a good enough jump, and a costly error at second base saw him sneak under a bad tag attempt by Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins. He moved to third on a groundout and scored with a slide on a sacrifice fly by 2013 NL MVP runner-up Paul Goldschmidt.

This combination of good hitting, speed and heads-up baserunning should be very familiar to Vermonters, as should the 6-foot-1 Pollock, who graced Montpelier Recreation Field seven years ago in the green and white of the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Mountaineers.

Pollock now has a new home in the massive, $354 million, Chase Field.

Chase Field is an expansive ballpark complete with perfectly manicured grass and level upon level of seats. It is a completely different world from the friendly confines of Recreation Field, a park Pollock affectionately rememberedthree hours before he laced a game opening hit.

“You felt like you were in your own little world right there,” Pollock said. “I remember the occasional fog delay too, rolling off the mountain.”

Pollock sat framed by Gatorade bottles and towels in the dugout, all perfectly laid out and ready for the game. The floor was spotless, with no seeds or discarded cups. Pollock had a red Diamondbacks warmup on and was relaxed, a welcome sight after an irritating neck injury had kept him previously sidelined. He’d been taken out in the sixth inning of a game against the Dodgers after he felt a jolt in his neck, and he struggled to pick up his head at points. He was healthy again on the afternoon before the Phillies game, having gone 2-for-4 with a go-ahead home run the day before.

Looking back to 2007 when the Mountaineers were in their fourth season, Pollock was 19 years old and fresh off a rookie season at Notre Dame where he hit .372 with 28 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. 

Pollock’s incredible seasons as a member of the Fightin’ Irish almost didn’t come to be, however. He looked at schools like the University of Vermont and the University of Connecticut. In fact, he was on a trip to visit the Connecticut campus when Notre Dame had called. If he’d ended up a Catamount, the baseball program was cut two years after he would’ve arrived.

He carried over his success from Notre Dame and lit up the NECBL, hitting .348 (good enough for fourth in the league) and adding 29 runs and a league-high 15 doubles. The icing on his already incredible summer season was the Mountaineers secondstraight championship over the Newport Gulls. Pollock had a double and scored in the series clincher, a 3-0 win at home.

“Winning the championship sticks out of course,” Pollock said. “But playing with Coach (John) Russo was awesome. It was also my first experience with wood bats, which was definitely a challenge that I would say helped me as a player.”

Pollock also enjoyed his teammates, playing with a bunch of “really cool guys” who he has run into throughout his ascent through the minor league system to The Show. Nobody from the 2007 team has joined Pollock in the majors, but they’re scattered across the minor league levels.

Curt Smith was a part of the ‘07 squad and finds himself in Double-A Springfield while fellow teammate Michael Brady sits in Triple-A Salt Lake. Pollock still keeps up with his old Mountaineers teammates who are still playing, as well as some from different years.

Rockies left-hander Christian Friedrich is one of them. 

“He was on the Mountaineers the year before me,” Pollock said. “He’s with the Rockies, so I run into him a bunch.”

However, baseball’s a tough business to stay in touch with people, Pollock said. 

“You play games until 10 p.m. and then go to bed,” he said.“You get two hours of free time in the morning and thats really it. It’s hard to stay in touch, but they were a great group of guys.”

After returning to Notre Dame for a stellar sophomore season, teams began to take notice, the Diamondbacks in particular. Arizona held the 17th pick and they used it on Pollock, 16 picks after former NECBLer Stephen Strasburg was taken by the Washington Nationals first overall.

“I thought the NECBL was an excellent league,” Pollock said. “For me, it was awesome. It was great to just go play in New England — I’m from Connecticut — it was just a lot of fun and good baseball.

“A lot of good players come out of there. I know Strasburg was there the year I was and a lot of guys I’ve run into in pro ball I’ve seen in the NECBL and the Cape.”

Pollock’s success continued the summer following his stint in Vermont. He was the 2008 Pat Sorenti Cape Cod Baseball League MVP, a very prestigious award as he hit .377 with 61 hits and 15 doubles for Falmouth. The Commodores invited Pollock into the heavily-scouted league after his impressive Mountaineers season.

He quickly moved his way up the Diamondbacks farm system as a heavily touted prospect, advancing a level in consecutive years (he did sit out with an injury in 2010, however). Each level Pollock went up, he got seemingly better as he raised his batting average from a .271 mark in Single-A South Bend to .318 in Triple-A Reno. 

Pollock’s hot hitting earned him a Major League Baseball callup in 2012, which lasted 31 games.He still had rookie eligibility in 2013 and he was the center fielder on Baseball America’s All-Rookie list. He replaced prospect Adam Eaton and did such a good job as an outstanding defensive center fielder who contributed at the plate that the Diamondbacks traded Eaton away and gave Pollock the spot.

His start to the 2014 season was rough.He went 0-for-13, but he’s slowly but surely dug his batting average out of a slump, especially over the last few games, including April 26.

After scoring in the first, Pollock knocked a 73 mph curveball from Lee deep into right field and it rolled up against the wall. He kicked it into high gear and sped around the bases, sliding into third ahead of the tag for a triple. He later came around to score for his second run of the game.

Later in the game, Jeff Manship replaced Lee and Pollock had no problem facing him. Manship gave him a looping 84 mph curve and Pollock continued his hot streak and lined a double into left field, leaving him a home run short of a cycle. 

He came up in the bottom of the eighth and launched a high fly ball that had a majority of the 35,462 in attendance on their feet, but it dropped into the waiting hands of Marlon Byrd. 

He added a 1-for-3 performance at the plate in the third game of the Diamondbacks series against the Phillies for a 6-for-12 mark in the three-game stretch after returning. His average has continued to climb. It’s up to .275 now and that rough 0-for-13 start to the season is long in the rear view mirror.

Pollock was sidelined this past week with a groin injury and hasn’t made it back into the lineup despite wanting to. His manager, Kirk Gibson, wants him to rest to get to full strength moving forward. The Diamondbacks might be having a tough year, but if Pollock continues his hot hitting at the plate and fights off the nagging injuries, there’s no where to go but up for the former Mountaineer.