After years of elbow problems, White Sox outfielder AJ Pollock regaining arm strength

MINNEAPOLIS — White Sox outfielder AJ Pollock won a Gold Glove in 2015 when he played for the Diamondbacks and was nominated for one in 2021 as a Dodger without the luxury of a strong arm.

At 34, however, Pollock feels like he’s retrieving some arm strength that was probably lost after numerous problems with his right elbow.

“I’m doing what I can, man,” Pollock said. “It’s getting there.”

A year after being drafted in the first round in 2009 by the Diamondbacks, Pollock fractured his right elbow diving for a ball. He fractured it again in 2016 sliding into home, and in 2019 had surgery to remove metal hardware that was inserted in the growth plate in 2016. There were infections in the plate area, as well.

“The elbow wasn’t right for years,” Pollock said.

“But it’s weird. Sometimes I think I have a squirt-gun arm, but I feel like I’m getting it back.”

A night after making a running catch in right field and banging into the side wall in Cleveland, Pollock nailed the Twins’ Gio Urshela with a throw from left field on the fly, denying the tying run and completing a double play. Never mind that Twins manager Rocco Baldelli should have challenged the close call. Manager Tony La Russa opened his postgame interview lauding Pollock for making the defensive play of the game for the second night in a row.

“I’ve always been accurate to second and third but never felt like I had the strength to home,” Pollock said.

“Now it feels like I have something behind it for the first time in years.”