Gallo belts three more homers
Rangers' slugging prospect leads the Minor Leagues with 17 long balls
MYRTLE BEACH -- Third baseman Joey Gallo, the Rangers' No. 4 prospect, hit three home runs Friday and now leads the Minor Leagues with 17 this season. His homers helped power Class A Advanced Myrtle Beach to an 11-5 victory against Potomac.
Gallo, ranked No. 80 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Prospects list, entered the day in a three-way tie atop the Minor League home-run leaderboard. He separated himself with a solo shot in the third inning, added a two-run blast in the sixth and another in the eighth. It was his second three-homer game of the season and fourth of his career.
Gallo finished the game 4-for-4 with four runs and five RBIs. In 39 games this season, he is hitting .345/.468/.791.
In 2013, Gallo became the first teenager in 52 years to hit 40 home runs in a season. Now 20 years old, he is on pace to hit 61 home runs. No Minor Leaguer has hit 50 home runs in a season since Ron Kittle did so in 1982 with Triple-A Edmonton.
Gallo wasn't the only Pelican hitting home runs Friday night. Outfielder Nick Williams, the Rangers' No. 5 prospect, went back-to-back with Gallo in the third inning and finished the night 2-for-5 with two runs. David Lyon and Zach Cone both homered as well.