Boone impressed by 'complete player' Gallo

August 6th, 2021

Since Joey Gallo joined the Yankees at the Trade Deadline in a deal with the Rangers one week ago, the focus has been on his offense and his slow start with New York, before he homered in Thursday's win over the Mariners. However, Gallo has also shown that he can play defense and run the bases well.

Take Monday’s loss to the Orioles, for example. Gallo flashed the leather in the fourth inning by making a nice backhanded catch off the bat of Maikel Franco. The grab prevented a run from scoring.

Gallo has also shown that he doesn’t clog the bases. His speed helped him score all the way from first base on a bloop double to right field by Giancarlo Stanton in Wednesday’s win over Baltimore.

“When everyone thinks of Joey Gallo, they think of the offense, the high on-base [percentage] and the massive power, but he is a complete player,” Yanks manager Aaron Boone said. “He is a special defender. He was having an amazing year playing right field in Texas, and it’s gone over instantaneously [at Yankee Stadium].

“You see his athleticism playing in left field, especially in our left field, where it’s a premium to have a defender over there because it’s spacious. He is going to be really good over there for us. On the bases, he is fast. He is athletic. He plays really hard. So yeah, he is a complete package.”

Some mechanical adjustments
Left-hander Andrew Heaney pitched his first game for the Yankees on Monday, and he had some struggles, allowing four runs in four innings in a loss to the Orioles.

Heaney recently looked at the film and realized what went wrong in the game. It turned out to be a mechanical issue, he said.

“I talked to [pitching coach] Matt Blake about a couple of mechanical adjustments,” Heaney said. “I made quite a few mistakes pulling my changeup across my body a little bit. So we have a couple of things in the works that we are working on in my bullpen [session] and in catch.”