3 Dodgers who will benefit most from Universal DH

2. AJ Pollock

Our next two selections are fairly obvious, but that won’t keep us from going more in depth. Pollock, who arrived in LA prior to the 2019 season, has only one “full” year under his belt and it came in 2020 when he appeared in 55 of 60 possible games. In 2019 and 2021, he missed a total of 121 games and it was especially a problem in 2021 with the lack of outfield depth on the Dodgers’ roster.

Various ailments have doomed Pollock to give him the annoying “injury prone” label, but it’s sadly true. Since debuting in 2013, he’s appeared in 137 games or more in a single season just twice. His shortened years have featured 12, 55, 75, 86, 112, 113 and 117 games played. Just simply not enough for a guy who is guaranteed $18 million next season (that includes his $5 million buyout on his $10 million player option for 2023).

What really is a bummer is the fact that Pollock has been highly valuable to this Dodgers team when he’s been fully healthy. Here are his cumulative stats in the regular season since joining the team:

• .282/.337/.519 (125 OPS+) with 132 runs scored, 52 homers, 150 RBI and 16 stolen bases in 258 games

And he came alive in the postseason this past year to hit .273 in the NLDS and .381 with an insane 1.190 OPS in the NLCS. Playoff Pollock activated (we hope)!

Take him off his feet in the outfield and the Dodgers are guaranteed to see a lot less wear and tear as he enters his age-34 campaign … because if he’s playing in ~140 games, then the team will be adding a handful of much-needed victories.