Dodgers: A.J. Pollock Scheduled to Undergo Elbow Operation

On Wednesday evening the Dodgers found out that A.J. Pollock would need to undergo elbow surgery on Thursday.  Dave Roberts said it will be “a little bit” before Pollock returns.

It was announced today that the Dodgers will be without A.J. Pollock for a while as he will need to undergo elbow surgery on Thursday to remove “hardware” from his last elbow operation back in 2016.  Pollock will need some of that hardware removed and last time he missed five months after undergoing elbow surgery.  A.J. is not expected to miss that much time for this operation.

The operation was needed because of an infection that occurred in Pollock’s elbow which began after he banged the elbow up in the series with the Chicago Cubs.  While it’s not necessarily another injury for Pollock it is still a bit disappointing that he will miss a significant amount of time less than one month into his first season with the Dodgers.

Pollock was off to a slow start this season although his infection was not to blame for his early season struggles.  The incident that sparked the infection occurred last week which means it was a recent incident and after the bulk of games that A.J. had already played in this season.  Hopefully, he returns for the stretch run and can help be a factor in October.

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In the meantime, the Dodgers will likely give Alex Verdugo the bulk of the playing time in centerfield.  Verdugo has gotten off to a hot start and certainly deserves to see a large amount of playing time.  This will be the biggest opportunity Alex has had in his brief big league career.  Enrique Hernandez and Chris Taylor can also fill in whenever Verdugo needs a day off.

If the Dodgers choose to call up an outfielder, possible candidates are Connor Joe and Edwin Rios who can also fill in at multiple spots on the infield.  They could also stick with Matt Beaty who recorded his first Major League hit on Tuesday night and can also play left field and multiple infield spots.  Andrew Toles reported to the team but he will need a few weeks before he is considered an option to be called up.

Wednesday night the Dodgers are starting Alex Verdugo in centerfield and Chris Taylor in left field which could be the combination they choose to roll with to see if Taylor’s bat comes back to life.  Taylor did have a big hit on Tuesday night and hit the ball hard several times but he has had a miserable start to his season.