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Texas Rangers 2017 preseason profile: Joey Gallo

By Stephen Francis

Nobody doubts the power of Texas Rangers IF/OF Joey Gallo, but they do question his ability to make contact. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Nobody doubts the power of Texas Rangers IF/OF Joey Gallo, but they do question his ability to make contact. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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This season has huge implications for Texas Rangers third baseman Joey Gallo, who faces tremendous pressure to succeed.

Not many Texas Rangers prospects began their careers with more hype than Joey Gallo. After thwacking 40 combined home runs in single-A and rookie ball in 2013 and 42 between high-A and AA in 2014, expectations shot through the roof. But 153 plate appearances and 76 strikeouts later, the anticipation has cooled a bit.

How it started for Gallo

For Gallo, his career as a Texas Ranger started with a home run in his first big league game. Like Ruben Sierra, Rusty Greer, Jurickson Profar and Nomar Mazara, he shot all projections through the roof after one game.

He spent most of the month of June with the Rangers at the MLB level, but his home runs could never make up for his strikeouts. Gallo turned into an “all-or-nothing” type of hitter that would either put one 520 feet deep into the seats or swing wildly and miss.

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In that first month, Gallo struck out 43 times in 98 plate appearances. He did draw a 12.2% walk rate, which put him 4.3% above the league average. Yet despite that, he still struck out 3.8 times for every walk: far above the league average of 2.62. Needless to say, he put the ball in play just 37% of the time, placing him 30% below the rest of Major League Baseball.

When Gallo actually made contact though, good things generally happened. He batted .356 when he put the ball in play. Gallo showed some natural power with raw talent, but the discipline never came around.

So by the time the 2015 season came to a close, Gallo batted just .204 with an on base percentage of .301. Yet, things still got worse the following season.

In 2016, Gallo appeared in just 17 games with most of them coming in September/October and most occurring in a late-game substitution role. Sadly, he managed just one hit throughout the entire season: a home run in his third at bat of the season.

But that two-run blast off Sonny Gray of the Oakland A’s remained his one and only highlight of last season. His 19 strikeouts could have something to do with that, which accounted for 63.3% of his at bats. So, for an “all-or-nothing” hitter, this season has become an all-or-nothing situation.

What’s next for Gallo

Without question, this season is the make-or-break season for Gallo. His future on the Texas Rangers roster depends on his success at the plate. He needs to swing selectively, which may very well sacrifice some power for the big left-handed hitter.

But his career depends on that sacrifice. He’s already proven in the past that he can do very good things when he actually makes contact with the ball. By simply cutting his strikeouts down by about 30%, he could do a world of good to his productivity.

Having said that, this season does not look very good for Gallo. As of Thursday evening, he has a spring training slash line of .214/.327/.476 with three home runs and seven runs batted in. Gallo hasn’t taken the field since March 19 because of recurring hamstring issues. While that could be the cause of his spring struggles, he’ll still have a lot to prove once the games matter.

The silver lining for Gallo rests in his spring strikeout ratio. He’s gone down on strikes in 37.8% of his plate appearances in Cactus League games. While that still leaves huge room for improvement, it shows that he has the chance to improve.

Next: Rangers preview: Carlos Gomez

Gallo will spend most of the season in either a substitutionary role or as a platoon player between the outfield and 1B/3B. He’ll get about 125 plate appearances and bat somewhere around .225 with roughly eight home runs. His strikeout numbers will remain a tad high at 43, but his 34.4 strikeout percentage will be the best he’s had in a season.

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