The Nationals have placed Joey Gallo on the 10-day injured list, as the first baseman/outfielder is dealing with an AC sprain in his left shoulder. Outfielder Alex Call was promoted from Triple-A to take Gallo’s spot on the active roster. (The Talk Nats blog reported earlier today that Call was headed to the majors, but the corresponding move wasn’t known at the time.)
Gallo signed a one-year, $5MM free agent deal over the offseason, and has worked mostly as Washington’s everyday first baseman with a few appearances as a corner outfielder and DH. Gallo had seen more work in the outfield since Lane Thomas went to the 10-day IL earlier this week, but with Gallo, Thomas, and Victor Robles all now out of action, Call figures to get a good chunk of playing time in the interim.
No matter Gallo’s position, the offensive production hasn’t been there. The veteran has struggled to a .122/.286/.311 slash line over 91 plate appearances, with three homers and a Major League-leading 43 strikeouts. This 47.3% strikeout rate is high even by Gallo’s career standards, and while his 16.5% walk rate is very strong, Gallo simply isn’t making enough contact. The rebuilding Nationals were hoping Gallo would hit well enough to be a trade chip at the deadline, yet for now, Gallo will first have to focus just on getting healthy before he can look to turn things around at the plate.
Imagine signing OFer Joey gallo to be your first baseman when you can get Brandon belt for the same
Giving Joey Gallo a guaranteed $5M contract was an obvious overpay. But would Brandon Belt really have agreed to that same deal back in January, to play for the Washington Nationals?
According to Belt, as of Opening Day he hadn’t gotten an offer from anybody and he still wanted to play. He had more offers coming off worse 2022 season.
Belt’s 34.9% K rate last year was a career worst. But given the fact Gallo’s always been a huge strikeout guy, there’s no reason Mike Rizzo should have believed Belt wouldn’t have been a better singing.
The Nats 1B prospects are at AA and A-ball, and the kid at AA isn’t likely to be ready any time soon. Even if Rizzo had given Belt a 2-year deal it almost certainly would have worked out better than Gallo.
Swing and a very, very big miss
Imagine signing Brandon Belt to be your platoon DH. It’s hard enough in most cases to justify tying up a roster spot in a pure DH let alone a platoon DH….
Belt isn’t even a bad 1B
Nationals Place Joey Gallo On 10-Day IL for dead bat
Gallo’s humerus?
Joey Gallo is the only player to make Rob Deer look like Tony Gwynn
Only Gallo at the plate can make Russell Branyan look like a prime Albert Pujols
Oh no not that
Best money injury can buy lol
What the hell are they doing with James Wood?
The Nationals are a joke and i think that’s the first time I wrote that about a major league team.
James Wood is currently slumping hitting .209/.277/.279 while striking out 30% of the time over his past 10 games.
I would imagine they want to call him up when he’s hitting well.
Wood retains a .900 OPS in AAA despite his recent cooling off period.
Hitting in the Rochester chill might not be fun in April. When the weather warms, the big man will be launching rockets.
We’re looking forward to Wood’s bright future in Nats Town!
So, if you include spring training he’s had one bad ten day stretch in the last 60. That’s called baseball.
Matt Olson is hitting 080 over the last ten days. Austin Riley 103. Mike Trout and Randy Arozarena…120.
Is he one of the Nationals top 5 or 6 hitters… right now? If he is, this organization is a joke. If you are telling me he’s not, then OK.
I imagine they will call him in the near future and the Nats will be smart about it and not do it when he’s struggling against inferior competition.
I don’t get the rush, he has 21 games in in AAA and he has been bad the past 10 of them. A team in their position can be patient with the 21 year old since it’s very unlikely he’s not the difference in them making the playoffs this year.
The Nats are going to be a lot of fun in the near future and I could see them making the playoffs as soon as next year.
They could have brought him up when Thomas went down. But now that Gallo is down, it’s obvious this has nothing to do with who the best players are.
Maybe I’m just in a bad mood, but the game is a better game when the best players play.
I’m an Angel fan, which is not fun, but the Angels don’t keep players in the minor leagues to manipulate service time. I appreciate that about them.
Service time manipulation certainly happens across baseball but if anything the Nationals are often criticized for rushing their prospects. Victor Robles and Luis Garcia, to name a couple on the current team, who many Nats fans think should have been given more development time. And CJ Abrams has been on the big league team since coming over from the Padres’ system at age 21.
Good point, all good prospects. Maybe they have a sour taste in their mouth.
I guess his bat needs Tommy John
Tommy John lifetime batting average: .157
Beating Gallo’s current mark, but TJ didn’t walk or hit for power.
I used to follow him when he was a Ranger. I don’t think I ever saw him hit a sacrifice fly. It was unbelievable .
Maybe buys Eddie Rosario another 10 days on the roster, if he’s lucky.
He’s over 30, should we start calling him Joe Gallo?
I think he needs to start learning to speak Korean at this point in his career
Asia seems his next stop. Collect every last million he can because it’s going to stop real soon.
Three of those hits came on April 3rd against the Pirates. Gallo only has one multihit game all season. Meanwhile, he’s K’d three or more times in 7 games.
There is absolutely no possible way Gallo is better than James Wood right now. The Gallo signihg was an even bigger waste of $ than the Nick Senzel signing. If for some stupid reason Rizzo wants to keep Gallo, nobody’s going to claim him if he’s DFA’d anyway.
Joey Gallo was never a good hitter.
He just had a good period that the Yankees fell for.
Remember when he complained about the shift. Well now there is no shift, no more excuses Joey. Your swing sucks, time for a revamp if you want to save your career.
They knew what they were getting; they just never got him. He was approximately a 120 OPS+ hitter over five seasons from 2017 to July 2021. Since then he’s been roughly a 85 OPS+ hitter.
A flawed hitter with skills. Now he’s just bad.
Gallo has never been a hitter. He is someone who gets on base with some pop in his bat.
I personally am not a fan of his. I can see where he provides value for the right team though.
Even in the minors he was not a good hitter. He got a lot of hype from his power and doing well in home run derbies. 80 power doesn’t mean anything if you have a 20 hit tool.
An AC sprain can be a nagging, painful and debilitating injury that weakens an arm. Doesn’t sound good.
If Joey gallo hits against the best k pitcher, what are the odds he k’s?
Same odds as Giancarlo Stanton hitting the IL at some point this summer tbh
VERY GOOD
🙂 🙂 🙂
Man, put a fork in Gallo.
Joey Gallo? Didn’t realize he was still in baseball
I heard he was driving a Salami truck now. Using it to bat the mozzarella cheese balls around.
When he gets a large order like a school field trio or Bachelorette party he calls out the Grand Salami truck
LOL
c’mon Washington he was on a record pace for Striking out!!!!
43 out of 74 ABs – GOAT numbers.
Datashark with the data snark
Gallo…..Please do NOT sign with the Long Island Ducks I want to enjoy those couple games I go to this summer