Free MLB.TV: Watch Gallo, Rizzo Yanks debut

Joey Gallo is now a Yankee. Anthony Rizzo is, too. Somehow the Bronx Bombers have even more sluggers to strike fear in the heart of opposing pitchers.

Gallo and Rizzo are on their way to Miami and are in the lineup tonight, and how about this: You can watch it for free.

New York’s series opener against the Marlins in Miami is Friday’s MLB.TV Free Game of the Day (blackout restrictions apply, but live audio still will be available through MLB.TV in local markets). Gallo is batting second and starting in right field and Rizzo is hitting cleanup and manning first.

• Stream FREE here: Gallo, Rizzo make Yankees debut

Here’s a quick breakdown of this Yankees-Marlins matchup:

How they’re doing
Yankees: 53-48, 3rd in AL East
Marlins: 44-58, 5th in NL East

Well, the Yankees were trending in the right direction, having won seven of their previous 10 games before the Rays wiped them out, 14-0, in Thursday’s series finale in St. Petersburg. Still, New York is within striking distance of the second American League Wild Card spot, and the club’s morale has to be on the upswing after adding Gallo and, per sources, Rizzo too.

The Marlins are beginning to turn an eye towards 2022, having already positioned themselves as sellers by trading away outfielder Starling Marte and closer Yimi García.

The matchup on the mound
Yankees: Jameson Taillon (6-4, 4.36 ERA)
Marlins: Zach Thompson (2-3, 2.45 ERA)

This has not been the debut season that either Taillon or the Yankees envisioned when New York traded for him in January, but the righty is in the midst of his best stretch of the year, winning each of his last five decisions and posting a 2.43 ERA across his last six starts. Marlins hitters should be prepped for high heat; Taillon has thrown nearly 30% of his four-seam fastballs in the top third of the strike zone, one of the highest rates in baseball.

Thompson is a former fifth-round Draft choice of the White Sox from 2014 who is making the most of his first taste of big league action in ’21. The 27-year-old rookie has held hitters to a .203 average across his first seven starts.

The players to watch
Gallo and Rizzo, of course.

For Gallo, it's not just because of his bat, although that’s certainly one huge reason. Sure, Gallo will never compete for the batting title, but who cares when he mashes as much as he does. His career average of one homer for every 12.6 at-bats is the third-best rate of any AL/NL player with at least 1,500 career at-bats, and that puts him right at home in the Yankees' lineup.

Gallo also represents a huge upgrade for the Yankees’ defense. New York entered Thursday with MLB’s fourth-worst team Outs Above Average total (-7) from its outfielders, per Statcast, and Gallo is tied for the fifth-best total (+6) among individual outfielders. Gallo also entered Thursday with the third-highest average arm strength (94 mph) on “max-effort” throws (the top 10% of a player’s sample) among outfielders, ranking only behind Hunter Renfroe (94.4 mph) and Ronald Acuña Jr. (94.2 mph).

While all of Gallo's power comes with its fair share of strikeouts, Rizzo hardly ever punches out. Rizzo's 15.7% strikeout rate puts him in the 85th percentile among qualified MLB hitters, and puts him just behind DJ LeMahieu as the hardest Yankees regular to reach 'Strike 3' against. Rizzo ranked among MLB's top 25% of hitters in both strikeout and walk rate in every season from 2015-20.

Don’t forget him
Were you aware that Jesús Aguilar is leading the NL with 75 RBIs? Miami’s big slugger is going off with 24 RBIs across his first 23 games of July. Giancarlo Stanton (132 in 2017) is the only Marlins player to previously take home an NL RBI crown.

Picture this
Surely you heard that Gallo was being traded to the Yankees and thought of his powerful, left-handed swing taking aim at Yankee Stadium’s short porch in right field. So how much will Gallo’s change of scenery boost his power numbers? Well, that answer is a bit more complicated than it seems, but look at it this way: Statcast estimates that Gallo has clubbed 10 non-homer fly balls across the last three seasons that would have gone out at Yankee Stadium.

Not all of those balls were hit at home, meaning they wouldn’t have been hit in the Bronx, either. Again, it’s complicated. But having a shorter right-field target certainly shouldn’t hurt a slugger who’s already extremely good at pulling the ball for dingers.

Number of note
Keep a tape measure handy at the rest of the Yankees’ games this year. With the addition of Gallo, the Bronx Bombers can now trot out four sluggers responsible for five of the 10 longest home runs tracked by Statcast since 2015.

Longest projected HRs, since 2015
1) Nomar Mazara: 505 feet, 6/21/2019
2) Giancarlo Stanton (NYY): 504 feet, 8/6/2016
3-T) Aaron Judge (NYY): 496 feet, 9/30/2017
3-T) Miguel Sanó (MIN): 496 feet, 9/17/2019
5-T) Joey Gallo (TEX): 495 feet, 7/20/2018
5-T) Aaron Judge (NYY): 495 feet, 6/11/2017
5-T) Ronald Acuña Jr. (ATL): 495 feet, 9/25/2020
8-T) Gary Sánchez (NYY): 493 feet, 8/22/2017
8-T) Michael A. Taylor (KC): 493 feet, 8/20/2015
10-T) Willson Contreras (CHC): 491 feet, 2017 NLCS Game 4
10-T) Nomar Mazara: 491 feet, 5/25/2016