Yankees slugger Joey Gallo beginning to show signs of breaking out of long slump

Joey Gallo has had a mostly forgettable time in pinstripes since the Yankees acquired him just before last year’s trade deadline.

 From Day 1, he  didn’t seem comfortable in the spotlight that comes with being a Yankee, which was predictable. It had caused plenty of internal debate  before general manager Brian Cashman ultimately made the deal. The thought was that Gallo would benefit from a change of scenery, going from a franchise very much still in a rebuild to a club with yearly World Series aspirations.

Those expressing reservations about Gallo being a fit in New York have been proved right to this point, but there have been signs — albeit based on a very small sample size — that he  might be finding some kind of groove on offense.

Gallo  entered the weekend coming off a two-homer game in Thursday’s 10-7 comeback victory over the Twins in Minneapolis. He had gone 8-for-25 (.320) with three homers, three walks and a 1.113 OPS in his previous seven games.

“It was nice to see the ball go over the fence. I’d like a lot more of those,” he said after the game in Minnesota. “It feels good.”

What adjustments had he made? “I changed my setup a little bit,” he said. “I moved my hands a little bit higher to start. I’m getting back to where I was early last year, kind of where I’ve been my whole life. So I’m just feeling good with that and kind of rolling with it.”

Entering Saturday night’s game against the Cubs, one in which Gallo started in left and batted ninth after beginning Friday's game on the bench, he was hitting .190 with eight homers and a .655 OPS in 48 games.  

Gallo was a feast-or-famine hitter during his time with the Rangers, so the Yankees haven’t been caught off guard by what they’ve seen.

He hit .160 in 58 games with the 2021 Yankees after the trade, though he did hit 13 homers and walk 37 times, which gave him an at least borderline respectable .707 OPS.

There was the thought that this season would be different after he had two-plus months to adjust to playing in New York, but his early results were worse than last season. Before his recent surge, Gallo hit .167 with five homers and a .570 OPS in the season’s first 40 games.

Gallo typically had been a player who worked his share of walks, even during long power slumps, but that was not the case. He struck out 52 times and worked 17 walks in 137 plate appearances during that 40-game stretch.

Even with his difficulties since joining the Yankees, Gallo ranks among the most dangerous power threats in the game. Going into Saturday, he had an at-bat-to-homer ratio of 12.75 since 2017, ranking him third in the majors during that stretch behind the Angels' Mike Trout (11.81) and Yankees teammate Aaron Judge (12.49).

Though Yankees fans have been slow to embrace Gallo, the outfielder has been a good fit in the clubhouse and his struggles — and how he has handled them — have not gone unnoticed.

“He’s been grinding,” Gerrit Cole said. “He works really hard, so when you a guy kind of pop his head up there and really do some damage and feel like himself again, as a teammate, you’re super- happy.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.