Snake Pit Appraisals: A.J. Pollock

Strengths

• "I gave him 5 for emerging as a star. But that was an impulsive vote, and i should have given him a 4. Injury also interrupted his regression. I doubt his year end ops+ would be over 130 had he played 150’games. That said he is at least a legit 110-120 ops+ guy who plays excellent CF defense, and that's an excellent player. Hope the injury does no affect him long term." - shoewizard
• "A 5 from me as well. Probably the most fun to watch on the field, rarely takes a bad route and has the speed to make up for it when he does. Reminds me of an in-his-prime Chris Young without all those nasty infield pop-ups and slightly less power." - TucsonTim
• "...bWAR 3.9, fWAR 3.3 ain’t bad for a partial season." - xmet

Weaknesses

• The stars were against Pollock and Goldy and the rest of the team. I gave Pollock a 2 because I expected a season full of contributions from him. And he exceeded them while he was healthy. Cue the woulda, coulda, shoulda music. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work in uber-competitive MLB baseball. It is the overall results from TEAM that matter. Not us giving out dispensations for 1/3 of a season fulfilled." - ford.williams.10

• "The injury sucked because he was playing so well at the time I think that his .375/.427/.659 May with a .441 BABIP looks like a bit of an outlier and his numbers would have regressed to the 110-120 OPS+ that Shoe mentioned above me if he played the entire year." - JoeCB1991

Towards 2015

• "Dear Dave Stewart
  Please extend AJ through 2021.
  That is all.Thanks!" - fsudude
• "Expectations going into 2015 are really high for him though, so he’ll have his work cut out for him to remain at a 4 or 5 going forward." - Fangdango
• "I do think his growth this year was legit though, and he should be one of the building blocks for this team going forward. I am not expecting All Star levels of play from him, but it is reasonable to see him providing great defense along with some solid speed and decent power going forward." - JoeCB1991
• Given that he has the potential to be a .300 hitter and to play Gold Glove defense in CF, even a decline leaves him as a borderline all-star. That’s the sort of player you extend, not the sort you trade away." - James Attwood
  

Comment of the Thread

Geez

if it weren't for the inability of NL Central teams to pitch inside without breaking hands, he and Goldy might both be worth a 6.

preston.salisbury

The Tally

• 5 - Highly Satisfied: 61%
• 4 - Somewhat Satisfied: 32%
• 3 - Neither Satisfied Nor Dissatisfied: 4%
• 2 - Somewhat Dissatisfied: 2%
• 1 - Very Dissatisfied: 2%

With 63% of the votes putting Pollock as a 4 or a 5, and 2/3 of those voting towards a 5, it seems that Pollock's biggest weakness is the fact that he got hit in the hand, causing him to miss half the season. Despite missing half the season, Pollock still managed to come in strong, slotting right below Ender Inciarte.

The Scoreboard

1. David Peralta 4.82 (162 votes)
2. Evan Marshall 4.76 (119)
3. Josh Collmenter 4.71 (151)
4. Paul Goldschmidt 4.64 (168)
5. Ender Inciarte 4.51 (111)
6. A.J. Pollock 4.48 (132)
7. Chase Anderson 4.18 (161)
8. Chris Owings 4.13 (112)
9. Vidal Nuno 3.96 (92)
10. Eury de la Rosa 3.63 (91)
11. Cliff Pennington 3.52 (62)
    
12. Tuffy Gosewisch 3.50 (113)
13. Brandon McCarthy 3.43 (542)***
14. Jake Lamb 3.31 (115)
15. Gerardo Parra 3.14 (122)
16. Wade Miley 2.94 (122)
17. Didi Gregorius 2.75 (106)
18. Miguel Montero 2.67 (128)
    
19. Mike Bolsinger 2.67 (117)
20. Bronson Arroyo 2.63 (125)
21. Will Harris 2.49 (61)
22. Randall Delgado 2.25 (122)
23. Aaron Hill 2.11 (91)
24. Trevor Cahill 1.07 (147)