Texas Rangers Minor leagues The
Texas Rangers selected Gallo in the first round, with the 39th overall selection, in the
2012 Major League Baseball draft. Rather than enroll at LSU, Gallo signed with the Rangers for a $2.25 million
signing bonus. in Gallo started his professional career with the
Arizona League Rangers, where he hit .293/.435/.733 with 18
home runs and 52
runs batted in in 150 at bats over 43 games, and was named a Post-Season AZL All Star, a
Topps Short-Season/Rookie All Star, and the Topps AZL Player of the Year. The 18 home runs were an Arizona League record. He was named the Arizona League
MVP. He was promoted to the
Spokane Indians of the
Low-A Northwest League, hitting .214/.343/.464 with four home runs and 26 strikeouts in 56 at-bats in 16 games. He played the season with the
Hickory Crawdads of the
Single-A South Atlantic League, leading the league with 38 home runs and 165 strikeouts in 392 at-bats, and was named a Mid-Season All Star and a Post-Season All Star. Between Hickory and the AZL Rangers, he batted a combined .251/.338/.623 with 40 home runs and 172 strikeouts in 411 at-bats. Gallo won the
Joe Bauman Home Run Award for hitting the most home runs in minor league baseball for the 2013 season. Over the offseason, he worked out with
Troy Tulowitzki and
Jason Giambi at the Philippi Sports Institute in Las Vegas. Gallo started the 2014 season with the
Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the
High-A Carolina League, batting .323/.463/.735 and leading the league with 21 home runs as he struck out 64 times in 189 at-bats and was named a Mid-Season All Star and a Post-Season All Star as well as the
Carolina League MVP, and was promoted to the
Frisco RoughRiders of the
Double-A Texas League in June where he was named a Post-Season All Star, a
Baseball America High Class A All Star, a
Baseball America Minor League All Star, and a Topps Class A All Star. Between the two minor league teams he batted .271/.394/.615 with 42 home runs and 179 strikeouts in 439 at bats. On June 2, in his first major league game, Gallo hit a home run and drove in four runs, becoming the first Ranger to achieve four RBIs in an MLB debut game. On June 5, Gallo earned his first MLB
Golden Sombrero against the
Kansas City Royals. On June 30, 2015, Gallo was optioned to Triple A to make room for
Josh Hamilton. In the minors in 2015, he batted .240/.342/.520 with 23 home runs and 139 strikeouts in 321 at bats. In 2015 in the majors, he batted .204/.301/.417 with six home runs and 57 strikeouts in 108 at-bats. With Round Rock, he batted .240/.367/.529 with 25 home runs and 150 strikeouts in 359 at-bats. In 2018, Gallo batted .206/.312/.498, hit 40 home runs (third in the league), drove in 92 runs, and struck out 207 times in 148 games. In 2019, Gallo was named the
AL Player of the Week for the week of April 15–21 after hitting .478 (11-23) with four home runs and 11 RBI over six games. On May 8, Gallo hit his 100th career home run versus
Nick Kingham of the
Pirates. He became the fastest player in
American League history to reach 100 home runs, doing so in his 377th career game (his record was since surpassed by
Gary Sanchez, who reached 100 home runs in 355 games). Gallo was placed on the
injured list from June 2 to 25 with a left oblique strain. He was selected as an
American League reserve outfielder for the
2019 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and hit a home run off of
Will Smith in his lone All-Star at-bat. Gallo was placed on the injured list and underwent surgery to remove a broken right
hamate bone on July 25, ending his season. Gallo finished the 2019 campaign hitting .253/.389/.598/.986 with 22 home runs and 49 RBI over 297 plate appearances in 70 games. On July 6, 2020, it was announced that Gallo had tested positive for
COVID-19, despite being asymptomatic. He hit the first
home run at the Rangers' new stadium
Globe Life Field on July 26. At the end of the season, Gallo won the AL
Gold Glove Award as a right fielder. He finished the shortened season batting .181 with 10 home runs. On April 9, 2021, Gallo was the only baserunner allowed by
Padres starting pitcher
Joe Musgrove in his
no-hitter against the Rangers, getting hit by a pitch in the fourth inning. Gallo was named to the
2021 MLB All-Star Game, drawing a walk in his only plate appearance. Gallo also participated in the
2021 Home Run Derby.
New York Yankees On July 29, 2021, the Rangers traded Gallo and
Joely Rodríguez to the
New York Yankees in exchange for
Josh Smith,
Glenn Otto,
Trevor Hauver, and
Ezequiel Durán. In 2021, he batted .199/.351/.458 with 38 home runs and 77 RBI. Gallo also won his second consecutive Gold Glove Award. On March 22, 2022, Gallo signed a $10.275M contract with the Yankees, avoiding arbitration. Gallo's performance dropped off dramatically in 2022, continuing what was described in the
New York Post as a "nightmare tenure in The Bronx." He was further described as "one of the biggest trade busts in Yankees history." Shortly before being traded away from the Yankees, Gallo said of his time in New York, "I don't go out in the streets... I really don't want to show my face too much around here... I went through a lot of adversity and I really had to question myself a lot. My confidence suffered. I would say I hit rock bottom for the big leagues." He went on to say that opposing players would try to give him encouragement in the face of
boos from fans but that their pity "makes me feel like a piece of s**t, honestly... it makes me feel like I'm a problem." In 82 games for the Yankees in 2022, he batted a career low .159 with 12 homers and 24 RBIs. He played in 44 games for the Dodgers, hitting .162 with seven home runs and 23 RBI. He played in 111 games for the Twins in 2023, batting .177/.301/.440 with 21 home runs and 40 RBI. He made 76 appearances for Washington, batting .161/.277/.336 with 10 home runs, 27 RBI, and three stolen bases. On November 3, the Nationals declined the mutual option on Gallo's contract, making him a free agent.
Chicago White Sox On February 13, 2025, Gallo signed a minor league contract with the
Chicago White Sox. On March 16, Gallo requested and was granted his unconditional release from the organization. Following his release, Gallo announced his intentions to convert into a
pitcher. ==Personal life==