A.J. Pollock 'hit every checkpoint' in rehab

(Photo: Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)With every update on A.J. Pollock’s return from elbow surgery, social media seemed to light up with concerns about his progress. Why, the thinking went, would the Diamondbacks rush their star back on the field at the tail end of a lost season?

Pollock thinks he knows why those concerns exist, but he stressed on Friday afternoon, hours before his season debut, that they were unfounded.

“We’ve got a lot of really smart people, who are probably a little smarter than the guys on Twitter, that are making calls on this thing, and if they say I’m ready to go …” Pollock said. “I know how things feel and I know how we’ve hit every checkpoint. It’s ready.”

Pollock,…