NOTRE DAME – For the second time in two years, the University of Notre Dame baseball program has a representative in the Major League Baseball All-Star game, as former standout and current Arizona Diamondbacks centerfielder A.J. Pollock (2007-09) was selected as a reserve for the National League in a vote by his fellow baseball players around MLB. The announcement came Monday (July 6) evening.

“I’ve run into a couple of players along the way the last two weeks that kind of went out of their way to tell me they voted for me and they were really pulling for me to get into the All-Star Game,” Pollock told Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. “For me, just them saying that was pretty neat. To be voted in based on the players in general, that’s cool for me.”

Pollock joins former Notre Dame two-sport star Jeff Samardzija (2004-06) in being the most recent MLB All-Star game representatives. Samadzija represented the National League in 2014 after being traded from the Chicago Cubs to the Oakland Athletics just before the Midsummer Classic.

The MLB All-Star appearance is the first for Pollock and the first for a Diamondbacks outfielder since Justin Upton in 2011.

An all-BIG EAST performer and Rawlings Gold Glove winner at Notre Dame, Pollock was selected 17th overall in the 2009 MLB Draft. After breaking into the league in 2012, Pollock has shown great improvement every season. He appeared to be set for a breakout 2014 season, but the Hebron, Connecticut native suffered a fractured hand early in the year, which set him back three months. Pollock also played for the South Bend Silverhawks during the 2009 season.

This year he has been on point for the D-Backs, posting a slash line of .303/.346/.464 through Monday. He has hit leadoff, second or cleanup throughout the season and has already set career highs in homers (10) and stolen bases (18) while matching his career high in RBI (38). His .303 batting average ranks fifth among National League outfielders.

Known for his outstanding defense, Pollock ranks first among NL centerfielders in Baseball Reference’s Total Zone Runs, which measures the number of runs a player is worth based on the number of plays he makes.