The Nationals have their lefty-hitting outfielder/DH/possible first baseman to help fill the role Dom Smith played in 2022: per WaPo’s Andrew Golden, the Nats have agreed to a one-year deal with Joey Gallo.
Per the report, Gallo’s deal is, pending a physical, a one-year, $5 million pact, with another $1 million in performance bonuses in the contract.
Gallo, 30, was perhaps perfectly described by MLB Trade Rumors as ‘the poster boy for the “three true outcomes” in his major league career,’ a fact that played out in 2022, when he slashed .177/.301/.440 with 21 home runs, 48 walks, and 142 strikeouts in 332 plate appearances for the Twins – a 63.6 percent ratio of the three true outcomes.
Once a first-round pick of the Rangers in 2012, Gallo debuted in 2015 and has 198 homers, 465 walks, and 1198 strikeouts in 3143 career plate appearances – a 37.9 percent strikeout rate and 59.2 percent HR/BB/K ratio.
That said, he has rated as an above-average defender in the outfield over his career, and has been about league-average in limited action at first base.
He signed a one-year deal worth $11 million with the Twins last winter after reaching free agency for the first time, and appeared in 111 games while playing all three outfield spots and first base.
Gallo on a one-year deal gives the Nats a left-handed hitting component to an outfield/DH/first base group that includes six right-handed hitters, with five of the seven being able to play every day with Gallo or Joey Meneses at first, while not blocking the paths of top prospects Dylan Crews and James Wood, two-thirds of the projected outfield of the future.