Two-time All-Star Joey Gallo was released by the White Sox Sunday morning. That was not, however, the big news here. Shortly after his release, Gallo posted the following video, which concludes with a short shot of him pitching:
It was cryptic at the time, so Gallo followed up a bit later and left no doubt.
As was on display in the video Gallo posted, he had a major arm from the outfield. He topped out at 14 outfield assists in 2021, ranking among the league leaders. He has never pitched professionally, however.
As a position player, Gallo found pretty good success in his 10 MLB seasons. He was always a low-average, high-strikeout guy, but he made his mark as a big-time power hitter. He topped 40 homers in a season twice and hit 38 in another. He made the All-Star team twice and added two Gold Gloves. In all, he hit .194 but his high walk rate and big power pushed him to a 106 OPS+ with 208 career homers and 453 RBI.
Tyler Naquin just over a week ago announced he was converting from outfield to pitcher. It’s a move that has been done recently by Anthony Gose, among others. It can go the other way, too, most notably among recent players with Rick Ankiel going from a pitcher to outfielder. Pitcher Michael Lorenzen has appeared in 34 games as an outfielder since 2018. And, of course, there’s always Babe Ruth. Shohei Ohtani, obviously, has been a two-way star in recent years and is returning to the mound this season after major elbow surgery. He won MVP last season as a DH.
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