Gallo and Gonzalez Called up to Frisco

Jun 10, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Texas Rangers first round draft picks Alex Gonzalez (left) and Travis Demeritte talk to the press before the game against the Cleveland Indians at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday, it was announced through John Blake that Texas would promote Joey Gallo and Chi Chi Gonzalez  from Advanced A Myrtle Beach to AA Frisco.

This is not a shocking story. Joseph Baseball-Destroyer Gallo is very good at baseball. So is Alexander Chi Chi Gonzalez. The difference between the two is that many thought that Chi Chi would start the season in AA. It is of no concern now as two of the most exciting prospects in the Rangers system are headed to the DFW area for local fans’ viewing pleasure. Both of these players proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Carolina league was unable to handle their dominance. Gallo’s numbers are more astounding than Chi Chi’s, but don’t let that fool you into thinking he isn’t ready. I apologize that I had not updated you sooner on how much Gallo was crushing Carolina pitching or how other prospects were doing so far this year, I have just been searching for some consistency in my schedule. I do believe that the others on my staff have been doing a fine job picking  up my slack and I applaud them for it. Here are my previous articles on Joey Gallo and Chi Chi Gonzalez. Myrtle Beach has been doing amazing things this season, including wrapping up the first half title  on Thursday night and have shown that they are in fact a very close knit team.

The team has won over 2/3 of their games this season and have led the league in a multitude of offensive categories. Moves corresponding with these two call ups included the Pelicans gaining the two outfielders Jose Gonzalez Cardona and Chris Grayson from extended spring training and AA Frisco respectively. The Hickory Crawdads also sent up infielder Nick Vickerson who started his first game for the Pelicans yesterday. Also, outfielders Zach Cone and Nick Williams were sent to the disabled list.

To put in perspective how incredible Gallo’s power numbers have been this year. Joey still might win the Carolina league home run title even if he doesn’t play another game. Three others have 10 homers and are only barely on pace to pass him via Scott Lucas on twitter. Meanwhile he is doing all of this while playing in a pitcher friendly park, a pitcher friendly league, and is not trying to hit home runs. He and I are the same age. While I often struggle to open up a jar of salsa he is taking pitches up and in and then driving them over the opposite field wall. He has 21 home runs and a slash line of .323/.463/.735. He also has surpassed his walk total from 2013 with 51 and only 64 strikeouts in 246 plate appearances. Some of those walks have been mostly intentional, but pitchers pitched away from him last year and the improvement in plate discipline has led to him being ok with more walks if pitchers are fearful. Some of the accolades Joey has accrued this season are 3 time Carolina league player of the week, Carolina league player of the month for both April and May, MLB.com pipeline prospect of the week.

Gallo is not ready to be in the majors. Gallo is not ready to be in the majors. Joseph Gallo is not ready to be in the majors. Now that that’s settled we can stop talking about bringing the kid up and shoving him at first to try sparking a miracle. Gallo has never played first in his professional career and I don’t see this front office mucking up his development by trying to shove a golden boy up to the majors to be a hero. That’s way too much pressure for a 20 year old kid.

I urge you to go out to a Frisco game to watch these two play, and if you can find a way to watch Joey take batting practice you won’t regret it. If you want more Gallo glory, here is his latest home run, a video recap of his 3 homer game, and an RBI triple from a while ago. Also here is a podcast from Pelicans Media Relations Manager and Play-by-play Broadcaster Nathan Barnett and Scott Lucas on the Ranger’s farm system, and a Gallo interview by Nathan Barnett.

Chi Chi Gonzalez in one of his more recent starts took a no hitter into the 7th inning. His fastball is breaking well in 3 different directions while having the same arm action as his slider. He has also done a good job this year of mixing in his change up and curve ball, which have looked better so far. In his 11 starts this year Gonzalez has gone 65.1 innings while striking out 49 and walking only 16. He also has an ERA of 2.62. Gonzalez’s main problem is that sometimes his pitches move too much and he has been missing the strike zone, though not by much. Chi Chi has been sticking to his gameplan of attacking hitters with strikes and trusting his defense. Chi Chi did another interview with Nathan Barnett which you can hear here.

Chi Chi is set to start in Frisco on Tuesday night and I would expect that Gallo would get his first start in Frisco tonight. I encourage you all to go out and see them some time this summer, you can only see so much about these players from articles online and it’s a nice change of pace if you want to get your fix of baseball but are too scared of another injury to watch the Rangers. As always, y’all are awesome and go Rough Riders!

Stats via baseballreference.com tweets via twitter.com and opinions via me.com