MLB
March 4, 2023 | 10:41 in the morning
The Red Sox found a loophole for MLB’s new transfer rule. And Joey Gallo, who Boston tried out in a spring training game on Friday, still has to learn how not to pull the ball.
If Gallo — the former Yankees outfielder now with the Twins — walks to the plateThe Red Sox placed center fielder Adam Duvall in shallow right field and slid Raimel Tapia from left to center, according to the Bally Sports broadcast.
They kept their right fielder in his traditional spot, giving up or taking a few steps.
And the Red Sox also made sure they stayed compliant with MLB’s new transfer rules, which keep two infielders on either side of second base and are meant to prevent teams from stacking their players. in position against lefties.
Until Boston discovered a way to manipulate it.
The downside to this approach, however, is that if the left-handed hitting Gallo directs the ball the other way, the Red Sox will have no outfielder to cover the left corner.
The closest man would have been Tapia in center field.
MLB’s shift change appears to be a boost for lefties who pull the ball, like Gallo, but if teams start implementing Boston’s strategy — or others — and it works, it might. change.
Gallo signed a one-year, $11 million deal with the Twins this offseason after a stretch in which he was traded from the Yankees to the Dodgers but failed to put together consistent results with either team.
A former first-round pick in 2012, Gallo finished with the lowest batting average — a full season with more than 17 games — of his career in 2022 at .160, and his home run numbers dipped from 38 to 19.
The struggles affected the slugger who was a coveted bat when the Yankees acquired him before the 2021 trade deadline.
“I think every baseball player at some point is like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this anymore,'” he said in an interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “It’s a tough game.”
The Yankees went on to trade Gallo, who spent his first six-plus MLB seasons in the Rangers organization, to the Dodgers a year later for pitching prospect Clayton Beeter.
Gallo, however, went on to hit only slightly better with a .162 average and .671 OPS over his final 44 regular-season games and one postseason game.
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