AJ Pollock

BIOGRAPHY

Allen Lorenz "A. J." Pollock was born on December 5, 1987, in Marlborough, Connecticut. He is a center fielder in the MLB.

Pollock attended RHAM High School in his hometown of Hebron, Connecticut. At RHAM High, Pollock played basketball, soccer, and baseball. In his senior year, Pollock was a member of the National Honor Society; he was named Gatorade Player of the Year in Connecticut, and state's Player of the Year by the coaches' association.

Pollock attended the University of Notre Dame, where he played college baseball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as an outfielder and third baseman. Pollock was named a Freshman All-American and was rated by Baseball America before his sophomore season as the league's second-best 2009 MLB prospect and best pure hitter. Pollock also played in the summer for the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League and was named MVP of the league. He became second player ever to lead the team in batting average for three consecutive years.

The Arizona Diamondbacks selected Pollock in the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. And was invited to spring training in 2010, but miss the entire season due to complications after a diving catch. Pollock was called up to the majors for the first time on April 18, 2012, and made his debut that day; he played in 31 games that season for the Diamondbacks. He played 137 games on 2015 season and was only able to play the 1st half of the 2014 season. In 2015, he was named a National League All-Star. Pollock signed to a two-year contract extension on February 8, 2016. He missed most of 2016 season, but in the 12 games he appears in 2016 he recorded 10 hits on 41 at bats. During the 2017 season he recorded14 home runs.

On January 26, 2019, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced that they had signed Pollock to a four-year contract, with a player option for a fifth year.

The 2020 season was shortened because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Pollock played in 55 of the Dodgers' 60 games. On September 16, Pollock hit his 100th career home run, off of Adrián Morejón of the San Diego Padres. He batted .276/.314 (a career-low)/.566 (a career-high) with 16 home runs and 34 RBIs. In the postseason, Pollock had one hit (a double) in five at-bats in the Wild Card Series, three hits in 10 at-bats in the 2020 NLDS, four hits in 20 at-bats in the 2020 NLCS and one hit (a double) in six at-bats in the 2020 World Series, which the Dodgers won in six games.

On May 2, 2021, against the Milwaukee Brewers, Pollock hit two home runs (including a grand slam) and drove in a career high eight RBI. Pollock received player of the week for July 5-11 2021, during the week he had a four-game hitting streak while batting .391/.462/1.043 with three doubles, four home runs and four RBI. For the 2021 season Pollock had a .297 batting average with 21 home runs and 69 RBI.

On April 1, 2022, Pollock was traded to the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Craig Kimbrel. Overall in 2022, Pollock appeared in 138 games hitting to a .245 average with 14 home runs and 56 RBIs. Pollock declined his option for 2023 making him a free agent.

On January 12, 2023, Pollock signed a one-year, $7 million contract with the Seattle Mariners.

On July 31, 2023, Pollock and Mark Mathias were traded to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later.