Joey Gallo Gets Called Up By Texas Rangers
Joey Gallo will realize his dream on Tuesday as he will be on the field with the Texas Rangers likely making his Major League debut. Gallo was the sixth ranked prospect in baseball this offseason by Baseball America, and he will try to fill the hole left at third base by Adrian Beltre trip to the disabled list. Beltre jammed his thumb on Sunday sliding into second base against the Boston Red Sox.
Gallo was a first round pick by the Rangers in 2012, the 39th pick overall. The 21-year-old can play the outfield as well as third base. Gallo is known for his power and solid throwing arm. This season, Joey has nine home runs in 34 games for the AA Frisco RoughRiders. Last season, Gallo drilled 42 home runs in two stops in the Rangers minor league system.
Rangers general manager Jon Daniels admitted to the Star Telegram that the franchise wasn’t planning for Gallo to skip AAA, but now that he is called up Joey is there to play.
“We called him up with the intent that he’s going to play. He will come up here and get some first-hand experience and knowledge on speed of the game, how pitchers are going to attack him, see other guys success and see how they handle it, see other guys fail and see how they handle it. The whole deal. Work with the big-league coaching staff, the travel, all the things he’s heard about but can’t experience first-hand without being here.”
Daniels also noted that this move likely won’t be a permanent one for Gallo.
“When the time does come and he goes back to the minor leagues, he’ll have a clear idea of what he needs to continue to work on.”
The Rangers are coming off a strong month of May where they went 19-11 and climbed up to third place in the American League West with a record of 26-25. Just like his new team, Gallo had a cold April and a hot May. All nine of his home runs were hit in May, including one on Saturday that Joey nearly hit out of Dr. Pepper Ballpark.
One worry the Rangers might have is most of their power now hits from the left side of the plate. As reported on earlier on the Inquisitr Josh Hamilton recently returned and with Prince Fielder, Mitch Moreland, Shin-Soo Choo, and Gallo the Rangers are definitely left-handed heavy. The Rangers’ next series against the Chicago White Sox may prove how big a problem this will be as they will face two tough lefties in Chris Sale and Carlos Rodon. It is doubtful that Gallo saw lefties this tough in the minors.
What do you think are fair expectations for Joey Gallo?
[Photo by Elsa/ Getty Images]
