A.J. Pollock has been through this tough situation before, a broken right elbow that threatened to sideline him for an entire season.
But the Diamondbacks All-Star outfielder and lead-off batter vowed Saturday that he will return to action this season from the injury he suffered Friday.
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Pollock fractured his right elbow sliding into home plate in a 7-4 exhibition win over the Royals. He appeared to be fine after the slide, but as he tried to push himself up, his elbow gave out.
"It was just one of those things where I was going to dive head-first some time this season," Pollock told reporters Saturday, via MLB.com. "It wasn't a dive, it was more kind of [on] the pop-up, I felt something. I've done it before, so I kind of didn't have a freak-out. I knew what happened. Lot of frustration."
The 28-year-old was seeing his first action Friday since March 8, as the team had held out of Cactus League action because of soreness in his right elbow. He previously fractured the elbow in spring training in 2010 and missed the entire season.
Pollock told MLB.com that the 2010 injury and lost season "crushed" him.
"(I'm) way more equipped to handle it this time around. Just go in and get it right and never have a problem with it again," he said. "Very confident that the guy that I have doing it this time is going to nail it. It's not a fun process, but you grow as a person. You just take it day to day."
Pollock will need surgery to repair his elbow. No date has been set, but he vowed to return this year.
"I'm going to push for it, yeah," Pollock said. "That's going to be my goal."
Pollock enjoyed a surprise breakout season in 2015, hitting .315/.367/.498 with 20 homers, 76 RBIs, with 39 stolen bases and 111 runs scored. Socrates Brito is expected to take over for Pollock, but infielder Chris Owings, who played center field late in Friday's game, could also be an option.