Tough crowd: Joey Gallo becomes fan favorite . . . but not for long
The Yankees' Joey Gallo watches the flight of his two-run homer against the Detroit Tigers in the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, June 5, 2022. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Don’t try to overthink why Joey Gallo remains a starting corner outfielder for the Yankees. It’s not complicated.
1. Gallo is a two-time Gold Glover and still is very capable of turning a game with one swing. While that hasn’t happened nearly enough, Gallo did it Sunday by swatting a tying two-run homer in the fifth, and the Yankees ultimately beat the Tigers, 5-4, in 10 innings.
2. The Yankees keep winning regardless. They’re 24 games over .500 (39-15) and lead the AL East, a strong division, by 7 1/2 games.
Gallo has been terrible. Even he won’t deny that. But the Yankees are pitching at such a ridiculously high level and have so many different lineup contributors on a daily basis — as well as getting an MVP season from Aaron Judge — they’re virtually bulletproof.
Bottom line: Gallo hasn’t put a dent in what the Yankees are doing, and they can carry his Gold Glove to support this elite pitching staff until they believe his bat becomes too much of a liability — if it ever gets to that point in the second half. But for now, thinking that the Yankees should dump Gallo (and eat his $10.28 million) for the sake of keeping around a player with options in Miguel Andujar is just a short-sighted fantasy.
The Yankees don’t need Andujar to win at the present. And they’re barely losing with Gallo, who really couldn’t have been going much worse before smacking that 3-and-1 sinker from Tigers starter Rony Garcia. That ended a 13-game homerless streak for Gallo dating to May 15, the longest of his career. In those 13 games, he hit .114 (5-for-44) with a double, zero RBIs, four walks and 22 strikeouts.
“Obviously, winning heals most things,” Gallo said. “But at the same time, you feel like there’s a responsibility you have to the team as well, at some point contribute and be the guy who wins the game sometimes — not always the guy who’s relying on the other guys to do it. It’s been an incredible run so far we’ve had. But it’s a long season, and hopefully I can contribute more in the future.”
If there’s any sliver of silver lining for Gallo, it’s within the realm of possibility that he’s already hit rock bottom these first two months. Before Sunday, his .577 OPS ranked him No. 68 out of the 75 outfielders with a minimum of 150 plate appearances. Only one was worse than his .173 batting average — the A’s Christian Pache (.170) — and his 38.8% strikeout rate gave him the unenviable distinction of being at the top of that group.
Gallo’s going to need to mix in more of these Sunday moments. Not for the Yankees’ survival, obviously. They’ll be just fine either way. But very few players, if any, are strong enough mentally to endure not only a heaping daily dose of failure but the humiliating chaser of the Bronx crowd booing him back to the dugout.
When Gallo launched that 383-foot moonshot into the rightfield seats, he got a thunderous, psyche-cleansing ovation from the crowd of 38,030. After what he’s been through recently, that definitely did more for his confidence than any extra rounds of BP or video study. And Gallo almost didn’t get the chance.
The fifth inning initially was ended by a double play when Isiah Kiner-Falefa was called out stealing on a third strike to Jose Trevino (Kiner-Falefa didn't even try to sell that the call was incorrect, popping to his feet and running off the field). But he was ruled safe upon review, putting the bat back in Gallo’s hands for his shot at redemption.
“We loved it,” Anthony Rizzo said. “We hang out so much, especially off the field, on the road, we’re always hanging out. He’s such a good guy and easy to pull for. So when he does comes through like that, it just gives us all that more juice. I think it’s going to be a sign of things to come for him.”
We can’t blame Rizzo for his optimism. He’s a good teammate, and evidently a friend. But Gallo is a streaky hitter, and the Bronx can be an unforgiving place.
With one out in the seventh, Gallo came up again, this time with the score tied and the bases loaded, and struck out on three pitches. He again was serenaded with hearty boos.
How that’s for a short memory? You’d think Gallo had earned himself a one-AB reprieve with that game-tying homer, but apparently he still has a ways to go.
When his spot came up in the ninth, Aaron Boone went with pinch hitter Giancarlo Stanton against hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto.
But Gallo already had his feel-good moment in the books. How long that will last or what that will do for him moving forward is anyone’s guess.
“I’m happy for him,” Boone said. “It’s a hard game. You got to just keep on competing and working to figure it out.”
The Yankees can afford to be patient. Someday that might not be the case. But not while they’re winning at a .722 clip, and not anytime soon.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
