Bleeding Yankee Blue: JOEY GALLO NEEDS TO STOP CRYING

Friday, February 25, 2022

JOEY GALLO NEEDS TO STOP CRYING

Baseball is hard. It's hard to get to the Major Leagues. My kid's in college ball right now and it's hard there. You play with competitors, and you play against competitors too. And the goal? The goals to win. Joey Gallo knows this. He's a major leaguer. Suddenly he's upset about the shift. Maybe that's because he's batting a career .206.

He can't get doubles; he can't get triples. You know what Joey? You can't hit... let's keep it real. Read this:

He spoke to the Athletic and this is what he said:

"I get the defensive strategies. I do. I am 100 percent not against that… But I think at some point, you have to fix the game a little bit…" Gallo said. "I don't understand how I'm supposed to hit a double or triple when I have six guys standing in the outfield."

Look, the shift does suck, but you ever hear the expression, "Hit em where they ain't?" You still need to go up there and try and do the job. The other team? They'll do whatever it takes to keep you from getting on base. It's just the name of the game. I hate hearing people complaining about not getting on base and yet, that player won't make adjustments. It makes no sense to me. You have to adjust. It's just part of the game.

Now I'm not telling Joey to hit the ball the other way, but for God's sake, make some kind of adjustment to build some confidence and help the Yankees. Example... my kid in college has been drilled to go opposite field in practice. Every single day. He's a lefty and he is working on hitting ropes left center. All that is good, but as he says to me, "Dad, it's great for practice, but depending on what the guy's throwing, you just can't do that automatic... you have to make adjustments and many times it just doesn't go to the left center gap on a hard liner. Sometimes it's a flare, sometimes I really need to pull it because it's where the ball is placed. It's the game. It's the battle. It's the count. It's where the ball comes in. It's what I guess the pitch will be. Do anything you can to get on base."

Is my kid smarter than Joey Gallo? I'm not saying that. I am simply saying adjustments need to be made in the box no matter what.