Texas Rangers: What To Expect From Joey Gallo In 2018

At some point, Joey Gallo was considered to be the 10th best prospect of the Texas Rangers organization. Last season, Gallo was able to go the entire season on the main roster. Expectations are sure to be big for coming into the 2018 season.

Gallo was not expected to start last season on the main roster. However, because third baseman Adrian Beltre was forced to miss the first two months of the season, the Texas Rangers bestowed their trust and faith in Gallo to start at third base. It was thought Gallo would be sent back to the minors once Beltre was medically cleared, but the Rangers made a choice to keep Gallo in Arlington.

Gallo finished with 94 hits with a .209 batting average with 196 strikeouts. His .209 batting average put him nearly last in the league and his 196 strikeouts put him for second-most in the league. His 41 homers put him fifth in the league and third in the American League. The choice of keeping Gallo obviously had pros and cons. While Gallo was able to send balls out into the seats, he could not progress very well overall.

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So what are we to expect from Gallo this coming season? First and foremost, we can expect him to arrive at Spring Training in good shape, healthy, and focused. Unlike last Spring Training, he’s expected to make the Opening Day roster.

At the moment, it’s unclear what position the Rangers plan to use him for. Well, it’s unclear what his primary position will be because we can also expect him to shift among the first and third base positions, as well as designated hitter. If Adrian Beltre stays healthy, we can expect Gallo’s primary position to be first base.

Our biggest expectation for Gallo is to improve his batting skills. He needs to reduce his high rate of striking out. Obviously, he needs to work on his hitting because going 94-for-449 is not going to get him anywhere. His unique ability to blast homers is nice but it’s not enough. The Rangers need much more from him. This season we expect him to show great improvement in his hitting, resulting in a much higher batting average and we can expect him to send baseballs out of parks.