About a minute into an explanation of what it's like trying to evolve from the strikeoutingest hitter in baseball history into something more, Joey Gallo wanted to make sure he wasn't misrepresenting himself. The idea of a 6-foot-5, 250-pound conqueror of baseballs metamorphosing beyond what he's always been, what's in his nature, would be a distortion of the truth.
"I'm still a Three True Outcomes guy," Gallo said. "I'm still hitting home runs, walking and striking out. It's just more about walking more and striking out less. That's kind of who I am."
Gallo, the Texas Rangers' 25-year-old center fielder, is a player of manifold skills, from a keen eye, to a powerful right arm that pumped 98 mph fastballs in high school, to a freakish amount of athleticism for a massive human, to a swing that regularly challenges the limits of how far man and bat can combine to hit a baseball.