One of the new New York Yankee acquisitions leading up to the trade deadline was Joey Gallo, an outfielder from the Texas Rangers who is a power hitter who has not got much attention because of another new player Anthony Rizzo who has been knocking the leather off the ball. Although he has gotten off to a slow start with the Yankees, much more is to come. He has already shown his worth in the outfield at Yankee Stadium, and the home runs are not far behind. Joey has never been a hitter for average, but home runs, no problem. In addition, he leads the Yankees with 25 long balls and will probably end up with 40 or more.
Since he has spent most of his time (seven years) with the Texas Rangers, many Yankee fans don’t know much about him, so it’s time to learn more now. Joey was born Joseph Nickolas Gallo in Henderson, Nevada; he is 27 years old. He is 6′ 5″ and weighs 250 pounds; he throws right but adds a left-hand bat to the Yankees lineup.
Gallo attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas. In his senior year, he was an All-American and was named the Nevada Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year. According to ESPN, he hit 67 home runs in 446 at-bats in his high school career. As a senior, he hit 21 home runs with a .509 batting average. After high school, he signed a letter of intent to attend Louisiana State University.
In the 2012 MLB draft, he was selected 39th overall by the Texas Rangers. He had to choose to go to LSU or choose the Rangers; he chose the Rangers and got a $2.25 million signing bonus. He started his career with the Arizona League Rangers. In his first year, he hit .293/.435/.733 with 18 home runs and 52 RBIs in 43 games. That performance got him named Arizona League MVP.
After a promotion and short stint with the Spokane Indians, he played the 2013 season with the Hickory Crawdads. He led the Class A South Atlantic League with 38 homers in 392 at-bats. He was a postseason All-Star. He became the first player to hit 40 home runs in a minor league season since 1962. Between the two teams, he hit .251 with 40 home runs and 172 strikeouts. Over the offseason, he worked with two former Yankees, Jason Giambi, and Troy Tulowitzki, at the Philippi Sports Institute in Los Vegas.
In 2014 Gallo played for two minor league teams and combined hit .271/.394/.615 with 42 home runs. He started the 2015 season with the Frisco Roughriders, but on June 1st, he was promoted to the major league. With the Texas Rangers on June 2nd, he hit his first home run and had 4 RBIs. He became the first Texas Ranger ever to have four RBIs in his debut game. In 2015 in the majors, he batted .204/.301/.417 with 6 home runs and 57 strikeouts in 108 at-bats. In 2016, Gallo spent most of the season in the minors, appearing in only 17 games for the Rangers.
In 2017 and 2018, he hit 41 and 40 home runs, respectively. In 2018 he would also record his 100th home run with the fewest singles and the fastest player to reach 100 home runs, which Gary Sanchez has since surpassed. 2019 would be his first All-Star game. For the season he batted .258 with 21 home runs in 70 games. Although always having been an excellent defender in 2020, he won his first Gold Glove Award in the Rangers outfield.
In 2021 with the Rangers, he led the team with 25 home runs batting .216 and making his second All-Star game. Like I said before, don’t look for many ground ball singles; he elevates the ball for doubles and home runs. He averages a home run in every 12.5 plate appearances. He also seems to hit them in bunches with droughts in between. Because he stays healthy, he may be tuned to play in the most games of his career and hit the most home runs of his career in a single season.
The Texas Rangers will be paying the majority of this $6 million salary this season. He will be arbitration-eligible in 2022 and will become a free agent in 2023. Just like Anthony Rizzo, Gallo is thrilled to be a New York Yankee. Upon becoming a Yankee he chose the number 13, being the first player to wear the number since Alex Rodriguez.