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One didn’t have to be a sports psychologist or a hitting expert to realize that the New York Yankees trading with the Texas Rangers for two-time All-Star slugger Joey Gallo in July 2021 just didn’t work out for the player or his new club.
As noted by ESPN stats, Gallo finished last season with a league-high 213 strikeouts, and things didn’t get much better for him at the dish over the first half of the ongoing campaign. The 28-year-old routinely linked with an exit from the Bronx was batting a paltry .159 with 106 strikeouts in 233 at-bats when the Yankees mercifully shipped him to the Los Angeles Dodgers ahead of this past Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline.
Per David Scott of the New York Post, Gallo spoke with reporters at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday and admitted he’s happy to put the most recent chapter of his career behind him.
“My time in New York didn’t go as well as I wanted it to,” Gallo explained. “Obviously I wish I played better. … If you don’t play well, they look for somebody else to take that job and do it. But I think it’s nice to get a fresh start and a new clubhouse and a new place on the other side of the country, completely. And just get back to playing baseball again and trying to win games for the Dodgers.”
The Dodgers began Thursday holding a commanding 11.5-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres in the National League West standings and are widely viewed as favorites to at least compete for the World Series title this fall. Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts added he hopes a change of scenery allows Gallo to help push his club to its ultimate goal of winning it all.
“Baseball’s hard,” Roberts remarked. “And so the mind helps the performance. So my hope, our hope is that having a fresh start, having clarity, being open to the Dodgers will tap into that talent that he does have and prove for performance. So there’s certainly an exhale and joy to be out of New York, nothing against the Yankees.”
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