Tino Martinez knows what it’s like to struggle in New York upon arrival, then win over the fans that expect a lot out of a big-time trade acquisition.
Joey Gallo is still trying to win over the fans after a year of struggles, and Martinez told Tiki and Tierney on Thursday that the slugging outfielder needs to take a breath and take some power off of his swing to get back in a groove.
But he also knows the challenges of adjusting to the big city.
“I knew I was gonna play well as soon as I relaxed. I wanted to impress the fans…and show I would be a good player for the New York Yankees,” Martinez said.
“When you’re on the on deck circle, the fans are right behind you, telling you things left and right…after every game, I played in Seattle and we had three beat writers…here, after every game, you have 40 guys, microphones in your face asking about your 0-for-4 every single night.”
That has been the case for Gallo, who is currently putting up his best month of the season but still batting below .200.
“It can knock you down a little bit, like it has to Joey Gallo,” Martinez said. “I just think he’s been trying so hard and swinging hard. He swings so hard and he’s just not relaxed at the plate at all.”
What can Gallo do to address his prolonged slump? Martinez agrees that it’s difficult for a pull-heavy hitter to focus on taking the ball the other way, but he believes if Gallo took something off of his heavy swing, the results would take care of themselves.
“I’m sure the hitting coaches for the Yankees are working on that with him in the batting cages, he’s just not making the adjustments on the field,” Martinez said. “It seems like when you watch him play, he doesn’t want to hit a home run, he wants to hit it out of the stadium.
“He’s big and strong enough to shorten his swing and make contact like [Aaron] Judge does, and it will still go 400 feet. But he just swings so hard and he’s off balanced. He’s trying to get going and get some cheers behind him.”
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