The Nationals and first baseman/outfielder Joey Gallo have agreed to a one-year deal, stories Andrew Golden of The Washington Put up. The deal for the Boras Company shopper, which is pending a bodily, is for $5M with one other $1M accessible in efficiency bonuses.
Gallo, 30, has been the poster boy for the “three true outcomes” in a serious league profession that’s virtually a decade outdated at this level. Having debuted with the Rangers in 2015, he has performed in 863 video games, with 198 house runs to his title in that point. He has struck out in 37.9% of his plate appearances, which is far larger than par. For reference, the league common in 2023 was 22.7%. However he’s additionally drawn walks in 14.8% of his profession plate appearances, nicely past the 2023 league common of 8.6%.
It’s an uncommon mixture however one that also permits Gallo to be a productive offensive contributor when taken all collectively. Although his profession batting line of .197/.323/.466 has him beneath the Mendoza line, the walks and the homers nonetheless assist him translate that right into a wRC+ of 109. He signed a one-year, $11M cope with the Twins for 2023 and batted .197/.323/.466 for a wRC+ of 104, hitting 21 house runs whereas putting out in 42.8% of his plate appearances.
It’s maybe price highlighting that the tenability of this oddly formed efficiency has declined over time. Gallo had his finest run with the Rangers from 2017 to 2019, slashing .217/.336/.533 in that point for a wRC+ of 120. He hit a tough patch in 2020 however then bounced again with a powerful exhibiting early in 2021, sufficient for him to be traded to the Yankees alongside Joely Rodríguez. However Gallo’s manufacturing fell off once more after the deal and didn’t rebound in 2022, with the Yanks flipping him to the Dodgers midseason. He completed that season with a line of .160/.280/.357 and wRC+ of 86 earlier than placing collectively a good marketing campaign with the Twins final yr.
Regardless of the large pop in his bat, the up-and-down nature of his previous few seasons would make him a dangerous wager for a contending membership. However for the Nationals, it’s a smart match for a number of causes. Final month, it was reported that the membership was wanting so as to add some left-handed energy to its lineup. That was a logical goal with their outfield combine consisting of Lane Thomas, Stone Garrett, Joey Meneses, Victor Robles, Jacob Younger and Alex Name, all of whom hit from the suitable facet.
Past that, the membership isn’t more likely to be in rivalry this yr, having been aggressively rebuilding in current seasons. Final offseason, they gave modest one-year offers to bounceback candidates like Corey Dickerson, Dominic Smith and Jeimer Candelario. The primary two of these didn’t work out however Candelario performed nicely sufficient to be flipped to the Cubs for a few prospects.
The Nats can insert Gallo into the center of their lineup and hope that he’s producing sufficient to comply with an analogous trajectory to Candelario final yr. If he’s having one other tough marketing campaign like he did in 2022, he can merely be launched like Dickerson was.
The match additionally is sensible with the prospects within the system. Outfielders James Wooden and Dylan Crews are two of essentially the most highly-rated prospects within the league, and every might plausibly be nearing a serious league debut. Wooden spent most of final yr in Double-A and can possible start the upcoming season in Triple-A. Crews have been simply drafted final summer season however managed to affix Wooden in Double-A by the tip of the yr. Robert Hassell isn’t as extremely rated as these two however is one other notable outfield prospect who completed final yr at Double-A.
With these prospects doubtlessly pushing for main league at-bats by the summer season, Gallo might be seen as a placeholder. If he’s mashing, he might be traded for prospects. If not, he might be launched. In both case, he would yield second-half taking part in time to somebody in that group. If every of the prospects is struggling and isn’t justifying a promotion, maybe Gallo might keep in Washington by the tip of the yr, as Smith did in 2023.
Gallo can also be thought of a strong defender, which is a plus. His outfield glovework has led to profession tallies of 42 Defensive Runs Saved, 4 Outs Above Common and a grade of 15.0 from Final Zone Ranking. His work at first base isn’t graded as strongly, however he’s satisfactory there as nicely, with over 1,000 profession innings at that spot. Meneses is at the moment slated to get the majority of the taking part in time at first base however the membership doesn’t have a strict designated hitter, giving them some skill to rotate gamers round primarily based on well being and matchups.
