Diamondbacks’ outfielder AJ Pollock has an avulsion fracture in his left thumb and is expected to miss four to eight weeks, manager Torey Lovullo said on Tuesday.
Pollock sustained the injury diving for a ball in centerfield against the Brewers on Monday night.
And injury is added to insult here. A.J. Pollock has to leave the game with an apparent wrist injury that occurred on a #Brewers inside-the-park homer. pic.twitter.com/DdKgdbVuyO
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) May 15, 2018
“Obviously not great news,” Lovullo said. “But we know that AJ is going to be doing everything he possibly can to get back as quickly as possible. Everybody heals differently so obviously it’s a big range there, but we’re going to stay as optimistic as possible.”
Pollock will be in a soft cast. Surgery will not be necessary, Lovullo said.
Lovullo said he’s been asked about Pollock backing off in the situation of tracking the ball to avoid injury. He said he would never ask his players to not give 110%.
“We never ask our athletes to back down from any challenge, from any play” Lovullo said. “We will never, ever fault our guys from getting after it, because we ask that they do that every single day.”
General manager Mike Hazen echoed Lovullo’s thoughts.
“It’s an occupational hazard with baseball players a lot of times,” Hazen said. “It’s tough…like I said it’s just a hazard for playing the game the way he plays the game.”
C.O. gets the start in center on #TealTuesday. #GenerationDbacks
Preview: https://t.co/ELbcwoPBGn pic.twitter.com/0Z8rqpoCWD
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 15, 2018
Lovullo re-iterated the “next man up mentality” with yet another one of his players going down.
“We feel like we have created depth here for these situations,” Lovullo said. “It’s time for guys to step up and take advantage of some opportunities.”
Lovullo said that as the D-backs did with Steven Souza Jr. down, Jarrod Dyson and Chris Owings will split time in centerfield in Pollock’s absence. Owings’ versatility has been invaluable to the Diamondbacks this season.
“I don’t know how you put a price on it,” Hazen said of Owings’ utility role. “It’s allowed us to cover a lot of things. It allows us to not have to go make rash decisions externally.”
Dyson has had some back tightness, but is available off the bench if needed, Lovullo said.
The Diamondbacks recalled infielder Christian Walker in a corresponding move to placing Pollock on the 10-day DL on Tuesday.
Injury Update on Lamb
Lovullo said that Jake Lamb has an off-day today, but that he would go through a pre-game workout and will be back in the lineup in Visalia with the Class-A Advanced team tomorrow.
A target date has still not been set for Lamb’s return, Lovullo said.
