AN HONEST CRITIQUE OF JOEY GALLO AND WHY HE DOESN'T MAKE SENSE IN NEW YORK

Terrific NJ.com piece by Brendan Kuty simply for the fact that he spoke with 2 guys that really understand the game and player development and achievement... Bob Klapisch and Randy Miller.  They got on the subject of Joey Gallo... a guy that I never wanted in pinstripes. People always praise him on his home runs. But this is a career .206 hitter that has struck out more than he's done anything else at the plate. It's like college ball today. All these head coaches are looking at high Velo numbers off the bat, but if these kids don't hit, what's the point of that? You can't be a 1 for 15 guy. It helps nothing.  And that brings be back to Joey Gallo.  And that brings me to some gems in the Randy Miller, Bob Klapisch discussion. Check this out:

"MILLER: Gallo also hit just .181 in 2020. This is two really bad years in a row. Several scouts that I’ve talked to who have seen him a lot question whether he’s mentally tough, I don’t know the answer to that. He does seem like a really nice guy, but he played his whole career with the Texas Rangers before the end of last season. It’s very different playing in Texas. The fans are more casual. The media isn’t nearly as tough. When you struggle there, you don’t hear about it as much, if at all. The Dallas Cowboys are the biggest team in town. Texas Longhorns football is probably even bigger than the Rangers there and Austin is three hours from Arlington. Also, Gallo hasn’t been a clutch player. A lot of sluggers don’t hit for a high average, but when the bases are loaded, they’re focused on putting the ball in play and Gallo is an even worse hitter in the biggest clutch situations. His career average with the bases full is .146. Not good. I don’t know how this is going to pan out. I question whether he’s a good fit for New York. Are the Yankees happy with him? Maybe they’d be fine with Gallo hitting .190 with a lot of homers and a lot of walks. Cashman is all in on analytics, and if you walk a ton and hit a bunch of homers, that’s analytics heaven. Analytics doesn’t care about strikeouts. Joey Gallo is the poster boy for analytics.

KLAPISCH: Even if Gallo hit .200, that would be a 40-point improvement over what he did last year as a Yankee. Hitting .160 is unacceptable in any scenario. I don’t care how many home runs you’ve hit, if you’re hitting .160 you’re part of the problem."

It's really something to think about. This guy is not the answer. Now look, I want to be wrong, but what these guys say is very true... mental toughness needs to win the day and the Bronx is tough. Can Gallo be successful here? Personally, I really don't think so.