Aaron Boone's short response to Joey Gallo's stunning position switch says it all

It takes a lot to leave the baseball world slackjawed, but former slugging Yankees outfielder/difference-making 2021 trade deadline addition Joey Gallo leaving White Sox spring training to become a pitcher got the job done. He would've gotten roughly the same reaction if he'd announced he was becoming The Pope.

Gallo posted a highlight reel of his outfield assists on Sunday, then followed up the tweet (his first since 2022) with a reply noting, "Just to be clear, I will be pitching." While that technically made his intentions clear, it also clouded up every single other thing in the universe.

Gallo's Yankees tenure ended (checking with my lawyer to see what I'm allowed to say) unceremoniously, but he was affable during his time in the Bronx, and everybody wanted better for him. Outside of the requisite snark (and come on, Joey, you had to expect some snark), everyone wants him to do well at this new endeavor. And everyone is, yes, shocked at this new endeavor.

That includes his former manager Aaron Boone who, when asked about the transition on Sunday, first assumed that Gallo planned to be a two-way talent, then was left shell-shocked when he was informed that, nope, just pitching, actually.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone heard that Joey Gallo is a pitcher now, and his response was ... hey, alright!

“All right,” Boone said, regarding the idea of a full-time transition. “Good luck, Joey.”

He had slightly more to say about Gallo taking his 99th-percentile arm to the mound after struggling to catch on at the bottom of the White Sox depth chart, though.

“He’s a pretty talented guy, so stranger things have happened,” Boone first noted. “Obviously a really good arm in the outfield. Interesting.”

With plenty of respect due to Boone, it's honestly possible that no stranger things have ever happened.

Rick Ankiel was close. Mega-top prospect pedigree on the mound, a 2000 postseason with 11 walks in four innings, and then a 25-homer 2008 and seven offensive seasons in the big leagues? That's definitely the strangeness ceiling Gallo is trying to match here, and given Ankiel's yips on the mound, these seem like fairly comparable situations.

Gallo has a long way to go before his hype video becomes reality, but we applaud him trying. So does Boone, even though he seems a bit taken aback while trying to applaud.