Aaron Boone Defends Joey Gallo During Another Dreadful Stretch

As if Gallo's numbers couldn't get any worse, the outfielder is 4-for-53 in his last 21 games.

NEW YORK — As rumors about Joey Gallo's future continue to swirl leading up to the trade deadline, the outfielder's numbers continue to plummet in pinstripes. 

Gallo is hitting .073 (4-for-55) in his last 21 games, striking out 27 times in that span. He's slashing .161/.286/.327 this year in 74 total contests.

The only numbers that have been rising for Gallo are his strikeout rate, his whiff rate and the decibels at which he's booed each time he trudges off the field at Yankee Stadium, head down following yet another punch out.

Regardless of Gallo's putrid production and the speculation that his time in New York could be coming to a close, Yankees manager Aaron Boone has defended the outfielder multiple times over the last several days, a trend over Gallo's year in the organization.

When asked on Friday night about Gallo's recent skid, the skipper pointed out some quality at-bats from the previous game, reiterating that the 28-year-old is doing his best to contribute.

"Couple really good at-bats last night where he worked walks in a tight game. Nobody ever mentioned those," Boone said. "He's grinding. It's a challenge, it's been a struggle without question. He has had some good at-bats along the way here, I feel like over the last week or 10 days. Hasn't got a lot of traction with hits, but just got to keep fighting."

It's a fair point, Gallo's pair of walks helped pass the baton, giving New York an opportunity to score in both the eighth and 10th innings of a frustrating loss to the Reds. Both walks featured some quality takes—Gallo's plate discipline has never been scrutinized, he's elite at working walks.

Still, Gallo's inability to put the ball in play is enough to garner boos and criticism. It's been an issue for him ever since he was acquired last summer from the Rangers. 

In fact, he shouldn't even have four hits during this 4-for-55 slide. One knock was an infield single with a .120 expected batting average against the Reds. The other was a routine fly ball to right field at Fenway Park that Christian Arroyo lost in the lights, turning into a triple.

Send this one to the blooper reel 😂

Christian Arroyo loses it in the lights, Joey Gallo drives in 2 and gets thrown out trying for an inside-the-park home runpic.twitter.com/pkpCZMvzpk

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) July 9, 2022

When Gallo wasn't in the lineup against a right-handed pitcher on Saturday, Boone explained that he wasn't benching Gallo, it was more a result of Aaron Hicks returning from his shin injury and Matt Carpenter earning more playing time, starting to make appearances in the outfield. When Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are both in the lineup as well, there just aren't enough spots. 

But Gallo was acquired to play every single day. Not to mention the fact that the Yankees called up outfielder Tim Locastro from Triple-A on Saturday after placing reliever Miguel Castro on the injured list. This team doesn't need an outfielder. Gallo just hasn't produced.

"He's a big part of the team and we want him to keep grinding through it," Boone added. "Hopefully going in the [All-Star] break will serve him well too to just kind of exhale a little bit."

Perhaps a few days away from the ballpark will be beneficial for Gallo as this recent slump must be weighing heavily on him. Either way, he might be wearing another uniform once the deadline passes less than three weeks from now.

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