When the New York Yankees acquired Joey Gallo at the 2021 MLB Trade Deadline, the storylines wrote themselves. Here was a lifelong Yankee fan (and, yes, an Italian) returning to his roots to take on the short porch and mash.

Unfortunately, Gallo’s grace period in the Bronx was quite short, proving he would struggle to get by on emotional attachment alone. By the end of the summer, the 27-year-old slugger had compiled a career-worst stretch made up of all the more worrisome elements of his game.