Another Bite

Veteran slugger Joey Gallo asked for his release yesterday, and the White Sox complied. The 31-year old with 208 career homeruns and a .194 BA wants to convert himself into a pitcher. Let’s see, the last position player I can remember who pulled that off was Anthony Gose, who’s now trying to catch on with the Mets. Gose, though, made the switch starting at age 27. And the results have been modest at best, 32 innings spread over parts of three seasons. Gose is 3-0 in that time with a 4.78 ERA over 31 relief appearances. A long, long time ago back when I was a baby, Dick Hall switched from the infield to the pitcher’s mound, and he had himself a nice 16-year career mostly as a reliever. But it doesn’t happen often for the simple fact that throwing strikes on a consistent basis is hard to do. Otherwise, Bobby Douglas would be the greatest two-sport athlete in Chicago history.