SURPRISE, Ariz. _ The best available evidence the Texas Rangers have, and they seem to have more and more of it these days, tells them that a healthy Joey Gallo is going to be a productive player in 2020.
His major injury from last season can't recur because the broken hamate bone is no longer there. He hasn't played since July, but everything he did and everything he said and all the questions he asked strongly suggest that Gallo will pick up where he left off.
Gallo was an All-Star and one of the game's biggest offensive threats before a short injury-induced slump took some of the shine off this first-half numbers.
He was a complete player.
Gallo, though, hasn't played a full season at the level he played in 2019. The Rangers, short a bat or two, need him to be an All-Star for 162 games.
So, there is an "if" factor this spring and this season with Gallo that the Rangers know is there, no matter what the evidence says.
"Yeah, there is a lot of 'if' there," manager Chris Woodward said. "We're not resting the hopes of our team on Joey Gallo. We have a lot of other pieces. But when I see a guy work the way he works and you hear his comments and what he values now, it is a recipe for success. That's where I'm convinced."
Gallo said last season that there's no going back. He returned from the injured list after a June oblique injury and found himself with the same approach and same swing and same stubbornness it takes to stay on the right track.
He found himself in the same play in late October, when he finally felt his right hand was at full strength after a July 26 surgery and an aborted attempt to return for the final few weeks of the season.
But even Gallo is curious to see what he could produce over a full season dialed into his new approach and with the application of more analytics into his swing.
"I think they're permanent adjustments and they're going to help me be a complete player," he said. "I don't think that last year was like a fluke.
"We worked on so much last year that just as soon as I picked up a bat again, it was back to back to work, back to normal."
Gallo finished last season with career-bests in average (.253), on-base percentage (.389) and slugging percentage (.598) over 70 games, numbers that dived after a 4-for-34 slump in the only nine games he played in the second half.
He was at .275/.417/.643 when he went to the All-Star Game in Cleveland and homered in his only at-bat.
That's elite stuff, plus he might have been headed toward Gold Glove consideration.
"Every year I felt like I've gotten better," Gallo said. "For me, it's not always numbers-wise. It's just about learning and understanding the game better and the game slowing down a little bit. And I think that's kind of what happened last year.
"Obviously, I made some adjustments, but the game slowed down, and I felt more comfortable being out there and I felt like belonged there and I was a threat. So, I just had that confidence.
"I just want to keep that going into next year. And that's a big thing. Everyone has talent. It's about mentally being there every day and having the confidence in yourself. So, I feel like I'm getting there. I'm very close to being there."
The Rangers have moved Gallo to right field, in part to take wear and tear off his 6-foot-5, 235-pound frame. He knows he profiles as a prototypical right fielder _ a power hitter, a strong arm _ and he thinks it's a fit.
He also wants to be the face of the franchise, though it might take a contract extension to do that. Gallo is in the first of three seasons of salary arbitration, but negotiating an extension with agent Scott Boras might be a tall task.
But the Rangers believe he's going to be a star, even though he has yet to play at his 2019 level over a full season.
"I don't have a lot of trepidation that he's not going to do it, health-permitting," general manager Jon Daniels said. "You look around the league, and you can't win without star players. Joey's got that ability. He's got the chance to be one of the elite players in the game. To do it consistently over a full season and then after that year after year, that's how you truly get into that echelon of how you're viewed."
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