Former Texas Rangers slugger offers first impressive glance at attempted career reboot

Once viewed as the golden child and potential cornerstone for the Texas Rangers organization, slugger Joey Gallo never really panned out. It was his unreal "Three True Outcomes" at-bats where he would either hit a prodigious Ruthian homer, walk, or strike out that the organization ultimately couldn't stomach building their foundation around from 2015-2020.

Gallo has the second-longest home run in Rangers history at 495 feet. (Remember Nomar Mazara? He holds the record at 505 feet in 2019.) He also has the most strikeouts in a single season at 213 in 2021. In the end, as the strikeouts continued outnumbering the homers at an outrageous pace, it was his death knell in Arlington.

He was shipped on to several more teams, including the Yankees, Dodgers, Twins, and then the Nationals. After similar results in all these stops, and being handed his walking papers at each, the former two-time 40+ home run hitter decided to reboot his career as a pitcher. Yes, you read that right - a pitcher. Perennial bottom-feeders, the Chicago White Sox have decided to give him an opportunity try.

At six-foot-five and 250 pounds, Gallo is a specimen of an athlete and has always boasted a plus arm as an outfielder. Matter of a fact, Gallo was a pitcher in his high school days and threw a no-hitter his senior year. How that will translate to the art of pitching is something else entirely. It's one thing to be able to run it up at 95 mph, but if you have no idea where the ball crosses the plate, you're just another guy who can throw hard.

The first bullpen session clip shows the right-hander unleashing a cannon of an arm with decent control. It would be a great story if Gallo were to somehow figure out how to harness his power and become a bullpen pitcher or even a closer somewhere. If you want to root for a nice guy to succeed, then Joey Gallo is your man, but nice guys who can't locate their pitches don't last long in the major leagues.

For those of us who were lucky enough to see him hit otherworldly tape-measured long balls out at the old Ballpark in Arlington, we want this radical change to work out. It wouldn't be the first time either. Rick Ankiel is a comp for Gallo to shoot for, as he was the most recent position player to have success as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals over a decade ago.