Joey Gallo had never played a professional baseball game in the outfield until Monday night in Frisco, when the Texas Rangers' No. 1 prospect finally gave it a try at a new position.
Naturally a third baseman, Gallo has played at first occasionally in his minor-league tenure, which dates back to 2012, but on Monday night, he got the start in left field -- a position that coincidentally is basically up for grabs right now in Arlington, even with Josh Hamilton set to make his Ranger return very soon.
Gallo started the year on the disabled list and took a while to get going in the power department, but recently he's come on, and come on in a big way. For the year, Gallo is batting .316 with a .442 on-base percentage and a 1.034 OPS in 22 games. He's hit four homers and has driven in 15 runs. Last year, of course, he finished second in all of pro baseball with 42 homers, just shy of his childhood friend and fellow uber prospect Kris Bryant, who's tearing it up with the Chicago Cubs as a rookie.
If Gallo's bat is ready (it's not, yet) for the bigs, the Rangers will make a spot for him, and him increasing his versatility in the field will only help accelerate that process.
It went well in his debut, as The Dallas Morning News' Gerry Fraley pointed out -- Gallo had an outfield assist and two putouts on Monday in his first outfield work of his pro career.
