Clayton Beeter gets last laugh at Yankees' Joey Gallo trade in perfectly ironic way

Would the Yankees have been better off keeping the package they dealt to Texas instead of obtaining Joey Gallo at the 2021 MLB Trade Deadline? Probably not. While Gallo was an historic bust in New York, Ezequiel Duran went from near-All-Star to benched during Texas' World Series run and Josh Smith would've only added to the team's infield logjam (and would've had to be protected from the Rule 5, leading to someone else's sacrifice).

Besides, without the initial, dreadful Gallo trade, New York never would've gotten right-hander Clayton Beeter from the Dodgers, who might turn out to be the best player involved in any Gallo swap. That should be what people refer to as "the Joey Gallo trade"; forget that Rangers nonsense.

Beeter, after a hot spring training, made his MLB debut for this year's Yankees in the second game of the season ... before being promptly sent back to Triple-A for reasons still unknown. Now back to working as a starter, he received his first chance to face Gallo himself in a game that counts; the Nationals slugger was rehabbing with Rochester, but might want to stick around down there a while where he can still be a folk hero.

In a sight for sore eyes, Beeter not only struck Gallo out (what else is new?), but did so by getting him to stare at a bender down the middle, even rarer than inducing a whiff.

Yankees prospect Clayton Beeter locks up Joey Gallo with ironic strikeout

After the game, 300 beat writers asked Gallo if he wouldn't mind detailing what he found so off-putting about life in New York just one more time. Kidding. Probably.

Scranton walked this particular game off, thanks to an Everson Pereira dinger, giving the win to Phil Bickford. A truly delightful assortment of Yankee names were involved here. Gallo went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, while Beeter allowed two runs in five frames, striking out six (two of them Gallo).

Beeter ranked as the vaunted Dodgers farm system's No. 15 prospect, at the time of his arrival in the Gallo exchange. Now, he's an electric arm on the verge of helping out the big-league Yankees, and on Wednesday, he capped off his rise with one more powerful statement. The recipient just stared at it.