NEW YORK – Monday would’ve been a good time for Joey Gallo to explain how he’s turned into the worst hitter in baseball. The lefty slugger, one of the centerpieces of the Yankees’ trade-deadline haul, is striking out 50% of the time since coming to New York and is batting .082 in his last 17 games. No math lesson needed here: those are staggering numbers.
Gallo isn’t the only reason the Yankees are working their way down the postseason ladder, but he’s nevertheless sabotaging the very premise that landed him in pinstripes. Put Gallo is front of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, force pitchers to feed him a steady diet of strikes and then watch the home runs fly over the right field porch like they’d been shot out of a circus cannon.
In theory? Sure.
In reality? Not even close.
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Gallo had his worst day as a Yankee while the Blue Jays were busy winning their fifth straight, 8-0. He struck out four times and was soundly booed by a Stadium crowd that was both mystified and disgusted by the Bombers’ rapid decline. They’re 2-7 since the 13-game winning streak, only a half-game ahead of the Red Sox in the wild-card race.
Thoughts of catching the Rays this month have been replaced by a doomsday scenario no one would’ve thought possible even a week ago: What if the Yankees’ bullpen can’t get straightened out while Jonathan Loaisiga is on the injured list? What if the offense fails to reignite? What if a post-season berth – any berth – goes up in flames?
Those thoughts are too dark for the Yankees to openly contemplate. Manager Aaron Boone wouldn’t go any further than to say, “we have to do better.” But with only 25 games to go – 12 of which are against the Rays, Red Sox, and Blue Jays – the Yankees are running out of time to find August’s mojo.
Problem No. 1: the bullpen is so gassed Brooks Kriske, the rookie with a 15.26 ERA and 2.35 WHIP, was the only option to pitch the ninth inning when the Yankees were trailing by just three runs. Kriske promptly surrendered five runs, including a home run to Teoscar Hernandez on the second pitch he threw.
Problem No. 2: With a .202 average over the last nine games, the Yankees offense has vanished. They were sustained mostly by Judge and Stanton during the surge, but the two were 0-for-24 over the weekend with 11 strikeouts. That’s exposed Gallo and Gleyber Torres who combined to go 0-for-7 with six strikeouts on Monday.
It’s a toss-up as to which hitter is the greater cause for concern, but my vote goes to Gallo. He was, after all, one of GM Brian Cashman’s prizes at the trade deadline, the finishing touch on three-headed home run-crushing monster. Joining forces with Judge and Stanton was supposed to give the Yankees overwhelming firepower down the stretch.
But Gallo’s blur of swings and misses has created a black hole in Boone’s lineup. Despite that slugger-friendly No. 2 spot in the batting order, Gallo has struck out 61 times in 123 at-bats since joining the Yankees. No one in the majors has whiffed more often. No major league hitter should strike out that often.
Boone has tried to praise Gallo’s remaining strengths, including his MLB-leading 102 walks. But the manager finally conceded on Monday it may be time to drop Gallo in the order or even bench him. Even in an era where strikeouts have been de-stigmatized, a 50% punch-out rate is unacceptable.
Boone suggested Gallo is “wanting to ingratiate himself here.” That’s another way of saying Gallo is trying too hard. He wants the fans to stop booing him. That’s just human nature. But so is the old-fashioned case of nerves Gallo is suffering from.
Unlike Torres, who’s played in 76 post-season games (and has a .342 career average in October), Gallo has no playoff experience. In fact, between 2017-2020, his developing years in Texas, Gallo never even participated in a pennant race. The Rangers finished under .500 all four seasons.
Imagine, then, the culture shock for an out-of-towner suddenly arriving in the Bronx, where a win-or-else mandate hangs over the franchise like an anvil.
Will Gallo handle the heat over these last three weeks? It’s a fair question, especially for fans who are wondering exactly who he is. With every strikeout Gallo looks more like a latter-day Dave Kingman, the all-or-nothing (mostly nothing) free swinger of the 70s.
Gallo spoke on Saturday about what “a learning opportunity” it is to wear the pinstripes and specifically, “what it’s like to struggle here.” It was welcome moment of candor, although that Zoom appearance came after Gallo’s dramatic two-run HR in the eighth inning that tied the score against the Orioles.
Turns out the Yankees lost the game, anyway, and Gallo’s blast was the only sign of life in an otherwise killer slump: he’s 1-for-25., including the four strikeouts on Monday. It represented his low point as a Yankee just as the Bombers themselves are bottoming out. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea for Gallo to put himself front and center and own up to his role in the current crisis.
Put it this way: for all of Torres’ lack of focus this summer, he was the first Yankee to face the media on Sunday after a crucial misplay against the Orioles. Such gestures, small as they may seem, say plenty about a player’s acceptance of the big market’s iron rule: you flub it, you wear it.
Gallo might yet rebound. His power is legitimate, as is his defensive prowess. He is, after all, a Gold Glove outfielder. But the Yankees need Gallo to re-discover himself sooner than later, some way or somehow, even if it means a temporary benching. Chances are that’s where Gallo is headed.
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Bob Klapisch may be reached at bklapisch@njadvancemedia.com.
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