Joey Gallo (baseball)

Joey Gallo
Gallo with the Rangers in 2017
Texas Rangers – No. 13
Third baseman / First baseman / Left fielder
Born: (1993-11-19) November 19, 1993
Henderson, Nevada
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
June 2, 2015, for the Texas Rangers
MLB statistics
(through September 25, 2018)
Batting average .205
Home runs 88
Runs batted in 187
Teams

Joseph Nicholas Gallo (born November 19, 1993) is an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder for the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Early years

Gallo attended Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1] As a senior, he was the Nevada Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year and a High School All-American by MaxPreps, ESPNHS and USA Today.[2][3][4][5] He hit a Nevada high school record 67 career home runs, and during his senior year of high school, he had a .509 batting average with 21 home runs and 80 RBIs.[6]

Gallo signed a National Letter of Intent to attend Louisiana State University (LSU) and play college baseball for the LSU Tigers.[7]

Professional career

The Texas Rangers selected Gallo in the first round, with the 39th overall selection, in the 2012 Major League Baseball draft.[8][9] Rather than enroll at LSU, Gallo signed with the Rangers for a $2.25 million signing bonus.[7]

Gallo with the Hickory Crawdads in 2013

Gallo started his professional career with the Arizona League Rangers, where he hit .293/.435/.733 with 18 home runs and 52 runs batted in in 43 games. The 18 home runs were an Arizona League record.[10] He was named the Arizona League MVP.[11][12] He was promoted to the Spokane Indians of the Class A Short-Season Northwest League, hitting .214/.343/.464 with four home runs in 16 games.

Prior to the 2013 season, Gallo was the Rangers 10th best prospect according to Baseball America.[13] He played the season with the Hickory Crawdads of the Class A South Atlantic League. He became the first teenager since Dick Simpson in 1962 to hit 40 home runs in a minor league season.[14] Gallo won the Joe Bauman Home Run Award for hitting the most home runs in minor league baseball for the 2013 season.[15] Over the offseason, he worked out with Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Giambi at the Philippi Sports Institute in Las Vegas.[16] He started the 2014 season with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League and was promoted to the Frisco RoughRiders of the Class AA Texas League in June.[17] In July, he played in the All-Star Futures Game, where he was named the MVP of the game after hitting a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning.[18]

Gallo began the 2015 season with Frisco. On June 1, the Rangers promoted Gallo to the major leagues.[19] In his first major league game, June 2, Gallo hit his first major league home run and drove in 4 runs (becoming the first Ranger to achieve four RBIs in an MLB debut game), going 3-4 in the game. He also had a single and a double in the game.[20] On June 5, 2015, Gallo earned his first MLB Golden Sombrero against the Kansas City Royals, making him the earliest to accomplish this in a Ranger career.[21]

On June 30, 2015, Gallo was optioned to Triple A to make room for Josh Hamilton. On May 12, 2017, Gallo hit his first career walk-off hit, a three-run home run off of Oakland Athletics' closer Santiago Casilla to complete a four run rally in the 9th inning. It was the second consecutive night the Texas Rangers walked off. In 36 games, he hit 6 home runs. In 2016, he spent the majority of the season in the minors, appearing in only 17 games for the Rangers. In 2017, Gallo won a roster spot out of spring training and played multiple positions all season for the Rangers, finishing with a .209 batting average with 41 home runs and 80 RBI's. In 2018, Gallo hit 40 home runs with 92 RBI's in 148 games.

References

  1. ↑ Brewer, Ray. "Gorman baseball player Joey Gallo has big bat, talent to merit first-round draft pick". Lasvegassun.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  2. ↑ Rohrbach, Ben. "Nevada Baseball POY: Joey Gallo". Espn.go.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kevin Askeland (July 4, 2012). "Joey Gallo leads 2012 MaxPreps All-American Baseball Team". Maxpreps.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  4. ↑ "ESPNHS 2012 Baseball All-Americans". Espn.go.com. June 21, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  5. ↑ Jim Halley, USA TODAY (January 14, 2013). "Tampa Jesuit'S Lance Mccullers Jr. Leads All-Usa Baseball Team". Usatodayhss.com. Archived from the original on November 1, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  6. ↑ Davison, Drew. "Home run ball has gotten Rangers prospect Joey Gallo plenty of love". Star-telegram.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  7. 1 2 Dabe, Christopher (June 2, 2015). "Former LSU signee Joey Gallo homers in major league debut". The Times-Picayune. Retrieved June 30, 2017.
  8. ↑ RunThisTown (Matt Philips). "Bishop Gorman's Joey Gallo goes 39th overall to the Texas Rangers". Lasvegassun.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  9. ↑ "Rangers draft high school power on Day 1". Texas.rangers.mlb.com. May 24, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Fresh out of high school, prospect Joey Gallo puts on Texas Rangers uniform for first time". Rangersblog.dallasnews.com. March 16, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  11. ↑ Wild, Danny (August 29, 2012). "Rangers' Gallo named AZL's best". Milb.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  12. ↑ Boedeker, Adam (November 6, 2012). "Gallo Takes MVP Honors in Arizona". Nbcdfw.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  13. ↑ Eddy, Matt (December 5, 2012). "Baseball America 2013 Texas Rangers top 10 prospects". Baseballamerica.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  14. ↑ Seiner, Jake (August 31, 2013). "Gallo makes history with 40th homer". Milb.com. Retrieved September 3, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Late charge earns Gallo Bauman Award: Rangers slugger edges Astros' Springer in season's final week". MiLB. September 5, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Slugging prospect Gallo works out with two All-Stars | texasrangers.com: News". Mlb.mlb.com. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  17. ↑ "Gallo, Gonzalez promoted to Double-A Frisco". Texas Rangers. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Joey Gallo earns Futures Game MVP honors after leading Team USA to victory - HardballTalk". nbcsports.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  19. ↑ "Grant: Why Rangers feel time is right for Joey Gallo to join big club". dallasnews.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  20. ↑ Sullivan, T.R. (June 2, 2015). "Gallo homers in second big league at-bat". MLB.com. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  21. ↑ Grant, Evan (June 6, 2015). "Why Rangers aren't concerned about Joey Gallo's first 'Golden Sombrero'". Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on August 9, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
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