Texas Rangers: Joey Gallo is Drawing Comparisons to a Particular Type of Player

The Texas Rangers have had many a prospect ranted and raved about in recent years, but when it comes to raw power, the one that tops the list has to be Joey Gallo.

Over the last couple of seasons we’ve seen players taking a different approach to hitting, focusing more on their launch angle in order to generate home runs as opposed to creating an all-around approach that will see them on base more often. Last year Mark Trumbo was the media darling of this movement, belting a career-high 47 homers. This year Yonder Alonso in Oakland has been getting some praise, already hitting double digit bombs for the first time of his career.

Joey Gallo has seen his star shine a little bit brighter this season after getting a chance to play everyday in place of the injured (until last night) Adrian Beltre. With Beltre’s return, the powerful Gallo slid across the diamond last night and smacked home run number 16 of the season, which is tied with Mike Trout and Aaron Judge for tops in the big leagues.

While Gallo’s power is tremendous and his dingers are highlight-worthy, his ability to hit like a baseball player leaves much to be desired.

After a quick Play Index search, we can see that five players in the history of baseball have hit more than 30 home runs in a season while batting below .215. Gallo is currently batting .205 after a 2-for-4 night Monday to go along with his 16 homers.

The five players? Adam Dunn in 2012 (41 homers, .204 batting average), Mark Reynolds in 2010 (32, .198), Dave Kingman in 1982 (37, .204) with the Mets and again in 1986 with the A’s (35, .210), Ron Kittle of the White Sox in 1984 (32, .215) and Gorman Thomas of the Mariners in 1985 (32, .215). There are some familiar names on this list, but what is interesting is that Gallo, unless he hits above .215 or doesn’t reach 30 homers (doubtful), would be the youngest player to join the group.

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The age range of the five sluggers was a mix between 26 year old versions of Mark Reynolds, who is becoming a batter that can also hit for average and Ron Kittle, and the nearing retirement versions of Dunn, Kingman and Thomas. Gallo is at the very beginning of his career, which raises some questions.

In the past a player would have spent a little more time in the minor leagues, learning how to hit a bit more. Now, home runs are king, as we have seen with batters adjusting their swings to create the optimal launch angle to hit dingers. On the other side of that, players that have shown power but the inability to hit for average, like, say, Chris Carter, have become a dime a dozen and aren’t getting paid like they used to.

For me, this is where things get interesting. Have the Texas Rangers figured out some sort of break-even calculation that confirms what type of production levels they can live with, or was he thrust into this position with nothing else to prove in the minor leagues? With the return of Adrian Beltre last night, we could be on a path to figuring that out at some point in the near future.

The determining factor could be a combination of two things: Where the Rangers are in the standings and their prospects for contention the rest of the season, and Gallo’s strikeout rate, which currently sits at 36.9, tops among the players he is looking to join in this oddly exclusive club, and fourth in baseball behind Miguel Sano, Chris Davis and Keon Broxton, all of whom have much higher batting averages and get on base more often.

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Joey Gallo is still young, just 23, so there is plenty of time to figure things out, but these critiques of his game aren’t going to go away as long as they persist. This could be an instance where a change of scenery and a different set of voices could be what turns his career around and makes him a star instead of a man looking to join an exclusive list for all the wrong reasons.

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