Joey Gallo Lands Free Agent Deal For 2023

Another outfielder comes off the board, as slugging Joey Gallo will take his 'all-or-nothing' approach back to the American League, where he'll join the Minnesota Twins.

The Twins will hope Joey Gallo can unlock something with the new shift rules in play pic.twitter.com/TlfX2ZMgQM

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) December 16, 2022

It's a one-year, $11M deal for Gallo, who hasn't hit above .200 since 2019. His lifetime average is now .199, but he can still leave the yard when he connects. As a left-handed hitter, he's suffered as much as any player with the proliferation of infield shifts over recent years, but with the shift ban beginning in 2023, he and the Twins hope that he will benefit.  

But he'll still need to cut down on the strikeouts to be effective, as noted by Twins beat writer Aaron Gleeman.

Miguel Sanó has the second-highest career strikeout rate in MLB history at 36.4 percent.

And the only player with a higher career strikeout rate — at 37.3 percent — is Joey Gallo.

(Gallo is a good defensive corner outfielder, making him a better all-around player. But still.)

— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) December 16, 2022

Gleeman notes that Gallo has the highest career strikeout rate in baseball history, at 37.3%. And in a fun bit of trivia, for the last eight years, the Twins sported Miguel Sano (now a free agent), who owns the 2nd-highest career strikeout rate of all-time.  

Gallo, 29, will plug himself into a Target Field that's not so friendly to long ball hitters of late. It finished 22nd in baseball in surrendering home runs in 2022. The ballpark hasn't finished higher than 20th in HRs given up in five years. 

But Gallo doesn't exactly hit wall-scapers, so he'll likely be able to clear the fences there as well as anywhere. 

He just needs to connect. And the Twins are banking $11M on the hope that he will.

Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports