Beginning in June of last season, Rangers prospect Joey Gallo had quite the roller coaster, both on the field and in his head.
A smashing debut raised already lofty expectations for one of the top prospects in the game, but it all went downhill in a hurry, due largely to an insane strikeout rate as Gallo had trouble getting used to big-league pitching after making the jump straight from Double-A.
Unfortunately for him, even after he was sent down from the bigs and back to Triple-A, where he'd never played, his struggles and strikeout problems never went away and he ended the year in what he's called an emotional and mental mess.
But so far this year since starting the season at Triple-A, Gallo's approach has changed for the better and he's been hitting much better and striking out much less.
Gallo is sporting a .400 on-base percentage to go with 11 extra-base hits (seven homers) in 85 plate appearances. He's struck out only 24.7 percent of the time.
But now his success will be put on hold after he was placed on the 7-day disabled list with Round Rock after suffering a groin strain.
According to The Dallas Morning News, Gallo will be in Arlington on Monday to be examined by Rangers physician Dr. Keith Meister and further information will be brought forward then. You hope the strain isn't too bad because Gallo was really off to a great start after clearing a significant mental hurdle with the jump up in competition.
