It’s not a secret to anyone that New York Yankees outfielder Joey Gallo hasn’t been having a good 2022 season to this point.
He is slashing .146/.255/.167, has struck out 40 percent of his plate appearances, and his power hasn’t shown up: he has no homers yet, when he slugged 38 last year.
He did, however, contribute something in the Yankees’ weekend win against the Cleveland Guardians: his first RBI of the season.
You know the season has been rough for Gallo when his first RBI comes when April is expiring.
He finished with 77 RBI last year, and his career-high is 92, back when he was with the Texas Rangers.
But he is on an awful pace this year.
It may be a crucial moment in his year that, hopefully for him, represents a turning point.
A Sign Of Things To Come?
MLB analyst Ben Verlander tweeted that it was indeed Gallo’s first run batted in of the season, with a clip of the moment.
FIRST RBI OF THE YEAR FOR JOEY GALLO
— Ben Verlander (@BenVerlander) April 24, 2022
It was a screaming liner to his pull side, one that must have left his bat at an extremely high exit velocity.
That one was truly ripped.
Gallo’s OPS for the season remains a putrid .421, far from his career mark of .812.
Gallo will always strike out a lot, but when he is on, he constantly gets on base via walks, and he punishes the ball for high home run totals.
While his 12.7 percent walk rate is still down a bit, he hasn’t been a complete zero in the category.
The home runs, however, have been hard to come by.
He still has a high max exit velocity (113 mph), is barreling the ball frequently (19.2 percent barrel rate) and hitting it hard and in the air.
The power should eventually come, too.
The Yankees just need to be patient.
Will they?
Leave a Reply