Joey Gallo Set to Serve as Washington Nationals' Everyday First Baseman in 2024

Following Joey Gallo's recent quad injury, manager Davey Martinez confirmed that the former All-Star slugger would play first base rather than left field.

Washington Nationals manager Davey Martinez told reporters that Joey Gallo would be sticking around at first base, as passed along by MASN Sports' Mark Zuckerman on Friday.

Per Martinez, Gallo recently tweaked his quad and is being held out of the outfield for the time being as a result. He may also get some time at designated hitter.

Washington recently signed veterans Eddie Rosario and Jesse Winker, putting less pressure on Gallo to play in the outfield.

Gallo has spent the majority of his career as a corner outfielder, winning Gold Gloves with the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees in 2020 and 2021. Roughly half of Gallo's appearances with the Minnesota Twins last season came at first base, though, and it was his primary position with the Rangers back in 2017.

The 30-year-old slugger has made five appearances at first and three at designated hitter in the Grapefruit League, without playing a single inning in the outfield. At the plate, he is batting .136 with a .390 OPS in 22 Spring Training at-bats.

The Nationals signed Gallo to a one-year, $5 million contract back in January. The two-time All-Star is a .197 hitter for his career with 198 home runs, 426 RBI, a .789 OPS and a 15.1 WAR.

Since becoming a full-time MLB players in 2017, Gallo ranks second in the league with 1,114 strikeouts, 18th with 445 walks and 14th with 191 homers. He has racked up 42 defensive runs saved as an outfielder since debuting in 2015, but he hasn't gotten past zero defensive runs saved in 147 games as a first baseman.

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