The Los Angeles Dodgers caught a tough injury break last week when starting center fielder A.J. Pollock went down with an infection in his right elbow.
Pollock had surgery on that elbow in 2019 and again last year when he was with the Arizona Diamondbacks. His latest operation was to remove remove the metal plates and screws that previously were inserted as a means to stabilizing the joint.
The surgery was successful and Pollock has begun recovering, although the Dodgers have not yet set any sort of expectation for how long he is going to be out.
With the Dodgers returning home for a nine-game road trip, Pollock spoke to reporters for the first time since his surgery. He revealed that he had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) put into his left arm to help with the infection.
It will remain there for six weeks, so Pollock will remained sidelined at least into July, via J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group:
To knock out the staph infection in his right elbow, A.J. Pollock had a picc line (catheter) inserted into his left bicep to deliver antibiotics. It’ll be there for six weeks, he said, so he won’t be playing baseball before then.
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) May 6, 2019
This is obviously a tough break for Pollock, who has dealt with a number of similar injuries throughout the course of his career.
While Pollock is out, Alex Verdugo, Chris Taylor and Kiké Hernandez are expected to be the group that gets the majority of the time in center field. That allows Cody Bellinger and Joc Pederson to remain in the corner outfield positions.
Pollock signed a four-year contract with the Dodgers in the offseason. So while this is not the start that either he or the team hoped for, he will still have plenty of time to turn things around whenever he is able to return.
