MLB’s hit king does not seem to be a fan of players who strike out a lot. Specifically, Yankees slugger Joey Gallo.
Pete Rose recently spoke to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale about the Yankees’ AL Wild Card loss to the Red Sox in which the banned hits leader ripped into the Bronx Bombers’ lineup construction.
“That was the worst f--king lineup they could have put on the field,” Rose said, via NESN. “Their 6, 7, 8, 9 hitters were all out-men. They had to have [Aaron] Judge and [Giancarlo] Stanton do something. If they didn’t hit, all of the pressure was on Joey Gallo. You saw how that worked out.”
Rose then unleashed into Gallo’s inability to hit for average and his high strikeout rate.
“How does someone who didn’t player every day strike out 213 times?” Rose asked. “Ray Charles wouldn’t strike out that much. I just can’t imagine striking out 213 times without killing myself.”
Gallo, and players like him, are essentially the antithesis of someone like Rose, who built his career on contact — finishing with a .303 average, 4,256 hits and never struck out more than 76 times in a season.
While his criticism may have been a bit over-the-top, Gallo struggled mightily after being traded from the Texas Rangers to the New York Yankees at the end of July.
While with the Yankees, the left-handed slugger had just 30 hits, although 13 of them were home runs, while striking out 88 times in 58 games with a slash line of .160/.303/.404.
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In the AL Wild Card Game, Gallo went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and popped up to shallow left field with a runner in scoring position in the Yankees’ only threat in the game.
Gallo, whom the Yankees acquired because they were in desperate need of a left-handed bat in the lineup, is under contract for another season before he hits free agency in 2022.
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