5 reasons for the Yankees’ ugly 5-5 start
4. Joey Gallo still can’t hit
The party line for the Yankees this offseason was that Gallo just needed a stable offseason to settle in and play his best baseball for the team. Instead, his first 10 games of this season have been even worse than last year’s putrid campaign.
The sample size is still very small at just 29 at-bats but Gallo’s .138 batting average and OPS of just .424 illustrate just how poor he’s been at the plate. Right field is a plus batting position all over MLB and instead, the Yankees are carrying dead weight in the form of Gallo at the moment.
The veteran outfielder is just 28-years-old so this shouldn’t be a product of age-related regression. It’s still a massive concern that Gallo hasn’t hit about .200 since the 2019 season. New York’s front office should be losing patience with him.
It’s nice that Gallo plays good defense in right field but the reality is that his offensive ineptitude is a big reason why the team’s offense is struggling to score runs. If he doesn’t improve his performance in a hurry he’s going to find himself on Boone’s bench more often than he’d like.