Tag: Joey Gallo

Joey Gallo explained why he attempted a nonsensical bunt with two outs in the 11th inning

The bunt traveled 114 feet.

The Minnesota Twins closed out their three-game sweep of the White Sox on Sunday in an extra-innings thriller. But had the game gone the other way, Joey Gallo probably wouldn’t have heard the end of it.

Batting in the 11th inning with two outs and runners on first and third, Gallo attempted to drag a bunt on the first pitch and catch the White Sox defense off guard. But instead, the Twins slugger’s bunt traveled 114 feet for an easy pop out to first base.

From a strategic standpoint, the bunt made almost no sense. Gallo has one of baseball’s highest K rates and is hitting .179 on the season. But when he does manage to put the ball in play, he hits it hard. So, why would he do this?

According to Gallo — who entered the game in the 10th as a pinch runner — his vision from dealing with conjunctivitis (pinkeye) wasn’t quite where it needed to be yet.

“The fans weren’t too happy about that one. Now they understand why I was doing it,” Gallo said via AP.

Manager Rocco Baldelli also commended Gallo and Willi Castro for contributing to the game on Sunday despite both dealing with pinkeye.

Still, Gallo probably should have tried to get that bunt down the third-base line given how teams play him to pull (even in the current days of the shift rules). You can’t blame fans for being confused about the bunt without the context of Gallo’s pinkeye and vision issues. After all, the bunt was bad.

Mics picked up a salty Yankees fan heckling Joey Gallo after a home run in Minnesota

Yankees fans can really hold a grudge.

For better or for worse, Joey Gallo has been consistent throughout his MLB career. He’ll struggle to hit above .200, and he’ll strike out a ton. But he’s also one of the better power hitters in baseball.

Yet, Gallo’s game was a terrible fit for New York, and he knew it. He admitted last year that his struggles with the Yankees weighed on him. And though it’s early in the season, Gallo is enjoying a fresh start with the Minnesota Twins where he’s hitting for a decent average (by his standards) and has six home runs.

But that doesn’t mean that Yankees fans are over his struggles in the Bronx. They’re even heckling him in Minnesota.

During Monday’s game against the Yankees, Gallo led off the fourth inning with a deep home run to right-center field. As he was walking through the dugout, microphones picked up a Yankees fan shouting at Gallo.

“Hey Gallo, why couldn’t you do that in New York? You bum,” the heckling fan shouted.  Again, this was at Target Field. Yankees fans are relentless. I’m sure sports talk radio in New York sounded a lot like that after the Twins’ 6-1 win as well.

Fans also had thoughts on that hot-mic moment.

The Royals tried to get creative with a shift against Joey Gallo and still messed it up

The creativity backfired.

Major League Baseball has introduced plenty of new rules for the 2023 season, and the shift is indeed a part of the game that MLB wants to see less often. With the new rules, the shift isn’t completely banned — just restricted. And teams have found a way to work around the restrictions.

It just didn’t exactly work out for the Kansas City Royals on the first attempt.

Joey Gallo — now with the Minnesota Twins — is one of those hitters who saw the extremist of shifts deployed against him in the pre-New Rules era. He’s a true pull hitter who doesn’t hit for average or bunt, so you’d see entire infields stacked towards the right side. Even with the new rules, the Red Sox used a loophole against Gallo in spring training.

On Thursday, the Royals took a similar approach, moving right fielder M.J. Melendez in to play the “rover” position in shallow right field. But Melendez plays outfield (and catcher) for a reason — he’s not used to fielding ground balls and throwing to first.

This new take on the Gallo Shift worked in theory because, well, Gallo hit the ball right at Melendez. The Royals right fielder just couldn’t make the play, and Gallo reached on the error. In previous seasons, you’d see the third baseman take that “rover” spot and easily make the play. So while the shift is still around to some degree, it might be less effective when you’re asking outfielders to make infielder-type plays.

But is that shift on Gallo even necessary? Sure, he’s a heavy pull hitter. But he also has a career .199 average and a huge strikeout rate. Teams should be able to handle him without reconfiguring an entire outfield.

Gallo probably knows it’s coming by now, though.

The Red Sox found a loophole in the MLB shift ban and it stinks for Joey Gallo

Apparently there’s a loophole when it comes to the MLB shift rules.

Yes, Major League Baseball restricted the defensive shift — specifically, there need to be two infielders on either side of second base and those fielders need to have both their feet on the dirt when the pitch is released.

That said, it doesn’t say anything about what outfielders can do. And poor Joey Gallo — known for pulling the ball and hitting a lot of home runs while also striking out a lot — is the victim of that loophole in spring training.

On Friday, the Boston Red Sox put an outfielder between first and second base in shallow right field and shifted another to be in center field.

Until Gallo and others figure out how to hit to the opposite field, this could be a thing.

Joey Gallo gave the saddest interview about his time in New York before Dodgers trade

Not a good look for Yankees fans.

You really have to feel sorry for Joey Gallo.

Throughout his entire career, he’s been the same player. He’s a guy who will not hit for average (like, at all), he’ll strike out a ton *but* he will hit dingers. The Yankees knew that when they traded for Gallo from the Rangers last season, hoping the lefty Gallo would feast on the short porch to right field at Yankee Stadium.

It turned out that Gallo was the wrong fit for the Yankees.

The Yankees traded Gallo — who was hitting .159 with just 12 home runs this season — to the Dodgers on Tuesday for pitching prospect Clayton Beeter. It was a move that Gallo knew was coming, and a recent interview with nj.com summed up just how much he struggled with the pressure of underperforming in New York.

He said after admitting that avoided going out in public:

Yeah, I think feel like people are a little sick of me here, so I don’t really know what else I can do at this point here. I haven’t played well, so I think it’ll help me to move on.

He also said that opposing players used to reach out to him after Yankees fans booed him, which in turn made him feel worse about himself.

I don’t want to say names. Kansas City guys reached out to me over the weekend. A bunch of guys. It makes me feel like a piece of s**t, honestly. I remember playing here with the Rangers, watching [Yankees] get booed off the field and thinking, ‘Holy s**t! I feel bad for that guy.’ Now it’s me. I do appreciate people reaching out, but it makes me feel like I’m a problem.

Again, Gallo was never a player who offered consistency at the plate. But once the power numbers declined and his fielding became unreliable, the situation in New York kept getting worse for him. He needed a fresh start, and Los Angeles could easily be that place. But at the same time, you would have liked to see the Yankees support a player who was struggling like that — particularly if he didn’t want to show his face around town.

Fans had plenty of thoughts about the very sad interview as well.

El tiro de Alex Lange de Detroit era imposible de batear, los fans quedaron asombrados

En teoría, ser un jugador de beisbol profesional suena como algo muy divertido, pero luego, cuando ves lo que algunos de estos pitchers pueden hacer con una pelota, es más fácil disfrutar de la vida aburrida de nosotros los que no jugamos beisbol. …

En teoría, ser un jugador de beisbol profesional suena como algo muy divertido, pero luego, cuando ves lo que algunos de estos pitchers pueden hacer con una pelota, es más fácil disfrutar de la vida aburrida de nosotros los que no jugamos beisbol.

Vean esto, por ejemplo. Joey Gallo, el jardinero derecho de los Yankees caminó hacia el plato para enfrentarse a Alex Lange de Detroit, y lo único que pudo hacer fue quedarse parado en la caja de bateo preguntándose cómo diablos el relevista le había hecho un lanzamiento con una cantidad ridícula de movimientos antes de que, básicamente, llegara al corazón de la zona de strike.

Esto no debió ser un momento divertido para Gallo:

Traducción: Alex Lange, una recta imposible de dos costuras para poncharlo a 98 mph.
22 pulgadas de carrera.

 

Es decir, ¿¡qué se supone que hagas con ese lanzamiento?! A nosotros se nos hizo que parecía una pelota Wiffle pero con muchas chispitas de magia.

Los fans de MLB quedaron asombrados, y con toda razón.

Traducción: ¡Wow! No hay nada que puedas hacer con eso. 

 

Traducción: Bueno, esto explica por qué Gallo ni siquiera movió el bate en este lanzamiento.

 

Traducción: Esto de aquí es arte pura, arte horrible.

 

Traducción: No tengo la menor idea de cómo alguien contestaría este tiro… y básicamente llegó justo al centro.

 

Traducción: Movimiento de pelota Wiffle.

 

Traducción: Me duele el pulgar de solo ver esto.

 

Artículo traducido por Ana Lucía Toledo

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Is MLB banning the defensive shift really going to make a difference in baseball?

Does baseball really need this?

While MLB owners and the players union have made little progress in negotiations to end the lockout, Sunday did bring news of some major rules changes coming to the big-league game.

The players union agreed to give MLB the power to institute changes like larger bases, a pitch clock and banning the defensive shift starting in 2023 — as long as the union is given 45 days notice. Though the first two changes are aimed at speeding up the game and player safety, the decision to ban defensive shifts aims directly at the strategic approach to baseball.

But will it actually make the huge difference that MLB owners are banking on? It’s debatable.

Joey Gallo made a LinkedIn page and epically roasted himself in the skills section

Those skills … incredible.

If Major League Baseball stands by its self-imposed Monday deadline to avoid canceling games, MLB players are likely going to have to find some way to fill the time.

Some players are already looking at new ideas to keep busy.

On Monday — just as talks unfolded between the owners and the players union with little hope for a last-minute agreement — Bryce Harper reached out on Instagram to the Yomiuri Giants of Japan to get a dialogue started about him playing over there. The MLBPA did say that players could pursue international opportunities during the lockout, after all.

Yankees outfield Joey Gallo took a more traditional approach to scoring a new gig. He started a LinkedIn page.

Joey Gallo summed up how the New York media has treated him in one tweet

He can’t even get dressed without a story about it.

There aren’t many more difficult cities to play in as a struggling player than New York. The fans are quick to let you know when they’re frustrated. There’s a constant microscope on you. And there’s a large media contingent that, let’s be fair, includes reporters with different agendas.

When the Yankees acquired Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline, the hope was that Gallo’s left-handed power would be the perfect match for Yankee Stadium and its favorable right-field dimensions. But for his entire career, Gallo has been a big-power, high-strikeout batter who’s hovered around the Mendoza Line for seven seasons. You know what you’re getting with him.

And while the Yankees expected better than a .160 hitter with shaky defense, it’s easy to feel sorry for Gallo when he’s getting criticized for how he puts his uniform on … literally.

A recent article from NJ.com’s Bob Klapisch offered an anonymously sourced anecdote about Gallo’s pregame routine, which was, uh, laying out his uniform and wanting a jersey to fit him properly. The fact that someone felt the need to offer up that detail under protection of anonymity was a bit silly, but it really does sum up the Yankees experience for a struggling player.

Gallo had just about the perfect response to that report on Twitter.

Let the man get dressed. Come on.