When Joey Gallo struck out in the eighth inning in the Minnesota Twins’ 12-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night, it was the continuation of one of his worst slumps of the season.
Over his last 25 games, Gallo has gone 6-for-56 with a batter’s line of .107/.206/.232. While Gallo has two home runs and a double over that stretch, he’s also struck out 35 times in 63 plate appearances, ranking 13th among all major league hitters since the slump began on July 2.
Such is the nature of Gallo, who is the definition of an all-or-nothing hitter. But as Gallo trotted back to the dugout after another empty at-bat, a friend of mine made a striking correlation.
“This is like watching the pitcher hit…”
It turns out he wasn’t that far off.
Since the divisional era began in 1969, there are 27 pitchers who pitched in at least 100 games and had a minimum of Gallo’s 592 at-bats over the past two seasons. All 27 of them own a higher career batting average than Gallo’s .166 average over the past two years.
While there’s no shame in trailing Shohei Ohtani, who is the second coming of Babe Ruth, or Rick Ankiel, who was converted into a slugging outfielder, there are other interesting names on the list including former Twins right-hander Liván Hernández, Steve Carlton, Jason Marquis and John Candelaria.
Even Hall of Famers such as Tom Glavine, Phil Niekro, Greg Maddux and Fergie Jenkins own a higher average and none of them found their way to Cooperstown because of their bat.
But Gallo wasn’t signed by the Twins for a high batting average. He was signed to be a run producer. Gallo is currently tied with Byron Buxton and Max Kepler for the team lead with 17 home runs and ranks fifth with 32 RBI. But even those numbers are surpassed by pitchers who have raked at the plate.
Excluding Ohtani and Ankiel, there are 90 pitchers who had more than 32 RBI in their career while Carlos Zambrano (24) and Madison Bumgarner (19) hit more home runs in their careers than Gallo has hit this season.
This may be nitpicking but it highlights Gallo’s biggest flaw, which is that he only produces runs when the ball goes over the fence.
Despite his powerful swing, Gallo has just three sacrifice flies in his career – a total that 44 pitchers have surpassed during their time in the majors.
Another interesting fact is that Ohtani (340), Ankiel (275), Carlton (256), Maddux (230) and Glavine (218) all have more singles in their career than Gallo’s 211 over nine major league seasons.
Outside of pitchers that can rake, Gallo also hasn’t been doing his job with runners in scoring position, hitting .151/.318/.453 with five homers, a double and 28 strikeouts in 53 at-bats this season.
And while the strikeouts have piled up, it shouldn’t be a death sentence to a player’s production. All-stars Ohtani (35), Julio Rodriguez (36), Josh Jung (37) and National League Rookie of the Year favorite Elly De La Cruz (46) all have 35 or more strikeouts since July 2 but have found a way to be key producers for their teams.
With an offense that ranks 17th at 4.43 runs per game, it’s fair to question why the Twins are voluntarily giving up outs with Gallo in the lineup – especially with Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach as capable replacements in the organization.
The Twins could justify Gallo’s ability to play first base in the wake of Alex Kirilloff’s shoulder injury, but Gallo’s .721 OPS ranks sixth on the team and trails utility infielder Donovan Solano, who ranks third with an OPS of .773.
The Twins also have no offensive depth in their lineup as they are the only team in the majors without a hitter with an OPS over .750 (300 plate appearances), per Codify.
This should have everyone thinking about an upgrade, but after standing pat at the deadline, Twins President of Baseball Operations Derek Falvey told reporters there wasn’t an option available making the situation even more frustrating for Twins fans.
Falvey said some potential sellers ended up drifting toward not selling, limiting the availability of some players they thought might be fits.
Said they didn't find a fit that also crossed the bar of having to push someone off the roster among the existing group.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) August 1, 2023
At this point, it’s fair to wonder how long the Gallo experiment can continue. Until then, the Twins appear to be content to bring the game back to the old National League rules.
