The Washington Nationals agree on a one-year, $5 million and an additional $1 million in performance bonuses with outfielder Joey Gallo. The nine-year veteran is coming off a one-year, $11 million deal with the Minnesota Twins. Gallo started the 2023 season hot but cooled off and landed on the injured list more than once. However, he hit 21 home runs with an OPS of .741 while posting a career slugging percentage of .466.
The Nationals and Joey Gallo have agreed to a one-year deal, according to multiple sources familiar. The deal is pending a physical.
Washington was in the market for a left-handed outfielder this offseason and now they have one in Gallo.
— Andrew Golden (@andrewcgolden) January 23, 2024
Washington Adds Veteran Joey Gallo
The 30-year-old was a prized trade deadline acquisition for the New York Yankees in August 2021 but never found his foot in the Bronx. He hit .159/.291/.368 with 25 home runs and 46 RBI in 140 games. The Yankees sent him to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the 2022 deadline, where he batted .162/.277/.393 with seven home runs in 44 games. Gallo’s final line of the 2022 season: .160/.280/.357 with 19 home runs and 163 strikeouts in 350 at-bats.
Gallo’s batting average never has been a strength, a career. 197 hitter. Before his trade to New York, he established himself as a Three True Outcomes player, homering, walking, or striking out in more than 58% of his plate appearances.
Still, Gallo’s bat will make or break his effectiveness with the team. In his first two full seasons of 2017 and 2018, he hit 41 and 40 home runs for the Texas Rangers. He made his first All-Star team in 2019, then an oblique strain and broken hand bone ended a season where he was hitting .253/.389/.598 with 22 home runs in 70 games.
Gallo always had the potential to be an All-Star, and the Nationals hope to rediscover that in a lineup that needs a mashing bat. In Gallo, the team gets the medium-upside talent who, with one good season, could hit a free-agent payday.
In nine big league seasons, Gallo is hitting .197/.323/.466 with 198 home runs in 863 games. His salary will be lower than the $11 million he earned last season with Minnesota.
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