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Gallo was returned to the fifth spot in the batting order Saturday after hitting out of the two hole through the first nine games, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports.
It looks like manager Jeff Banister is ending the experiment of having Gallo hit second, at least for now. The plan was to have Gallo see more fastballs and fewer shifts hitting behind Delino DeShields, but he's out at least month with a hand injury. Banister felt Gallo was being too aggressive up in the order -- he entered the day averaging 3.59 pitches per plate appearance, down from 4.17 in 2017 -- so the manager decided to drop Gallo to his comfort zone in the heart of the order, where he got on base three times and was involved in both of the Rangers' run-scoring rallies. "You want a still-developing young player to be as comfortable as he can be," Banister said. "Without Delino, the dynamic changes for our lineup. This was a case of me thinking, maybe we can back off the flame a little bit right now and allow Joey to get in more of a comfort zone."
