Diamondbacks center fielder A.J. Pollock has been diagnosed with an avulsion fracture of his left thumb, the Diamondbacks announced on Tuesday. He’s expected to miss between four and eight weeks, per manager Torey Lovullo. The injury will not require surgery, per FanRag’s Jack Magruder (Twitter link), and Pollock will wear a soft cast for the time being.
Pollock, a free agent at season’s end, was originally diagnosed with a sprain earlier today, though further testing revealed the fracture, it seems. He sustained the injury while diving for a ball in last night’s game. This specific type of fracture, per the Mayo Clinic, occurs when “a small chunk of bone attached to a tendon or ligament gets pulled away from the main part of the bone.”
Jarrod Dyson and Chris Owings can step in to handle some of the team’s work in center field, though obviously the loss of Pollock is a notable blow for a Diamondbacks club that leads the NL West by two games with a 24-17 record. It’s also a substantial blow to Pollock, who’s been among the game’s best players early in the season and was doing a nice work in padding his free agent stock as the offseason approached. Through 160 plate appearances this season, he’s hitting .293/.349/.620 with 11 homers — just nine shy of his career-high despite the fact that we’re just a quarter of the way through the regular season. Pollock’s .620 slugging percentage leads all qualified hitters in the NL.
The D-backs haven’t yet announced a corresponding move for the clearly inevitable DL trip, though MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert tweeted earlier that first baseman/outfielder Christian Walker has a locker set up in the Diamondbacks’ clubhouse, so it seems that he’ll be added to the roster for tonight’s game with Pollock heading to the 10-day disabled list. The 27-year-old Walker went 2-for-15 in a brief stint with Arizona earlier this season and is hitting .286/.288/.521 through 52 PAs with Arizona’s Triple-A affiliate in Reno.
Goldy really needs to step up now
Crazy it was originally diagnosed as a Sprain, until further testing revealed a fracture. Does this type of initial misdiagnosis happen often (thumb sprain then fracture) and if so, who was the last guy or organization this happened to?
An avulsion fracture, as now outlined in the post, involves the ligament, so it’s not really surprising that there was somewhat of an overlap in the diagnosis. There’s probably some degree of damage to both the bone and the ligament here, based on the specifics of the injury.
Thanks for the additional insight, Steve!
I always use Yankee examples, because I’m a Yankee fan, but closest comp. seen is Teixeira fouled a ball of shin Aug 25 initially diagnosed bone bruise (Not sprain, not finger, rather shin) —25 days later — on Sept 11 — it was Fracture, and Teix was lost for the rest of the season.
It may have nothing to do with anything, but at least Dbacks’ fans can be happy misdiagnosis corrected instantly. Thanks again for your reply.
Guy can never stay healthy
I read earlier today that it was a sprain but the article alluded to the fact that further tests could indicate a more serious problem.
The Kevin Kiermaier of the National league. Every year a new injury.
Its getting absurd how many players are spending time on the DL all around MLB
With the salary commitments teams are no longer willing to allow guys to play through the injuries, and players are less willing to risk hurting their future earnings by making injuries worse.