New York Yankees slugger Joey Gallo didn't get off too a hot start in 2022, but he's since started to find his footing. He was the victim of some boo birds from Yankees fans as his struggles began to mount this year, and he got brutally honest about how that impacted him. Via NJ.com, Gallo dropped an honest comparison between himself and DJ LeMahieu when discussing his difficulties hitting for contact.

“This is what happens all the time when you’re slumping,” Gallo said via NJ.com. “I wish I was DJ LeMahieu. I don’t get how he hits the ball so much. A lot of times, I wish I was a contact hitter, but I’m playing the hand that I was dealt.”

Gallo admitted he was in awe by LeMahieu's uncanny ability to put the barrel of the bat on the ball. LeMahieu is practically the opposite of Gallo as a hitter. Where Gallo excels at hitting the long ball, LeMahieu has made a career off of hitting for a high batting average and hitting for contact.

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When asked whether or not he'd tried to change his approach to become a more contact-oriented hitter, Gallo revealed that those efforts only stand to cause him to slump worse.

“All the time,” the Yankees star said. “Multiple times throughout the year. Every year. It usually would make the slump worse because now I go up there with a less aggressive mindset. I start swinging at more pitches because I think I can hit everything and then I start changing my swing and I manipulate my angle to the ball. I’m trying to hit a ground ball to left field and getting caught late. It actually makes it worse. I don’t know how to be a guy who can shoot the ball the other way and play small ball, essentially. At this level, you can’t just switch. You have to play to what your strengths are.”

This season, Gallo is slashing .191/.303/.362 with 5 home runs, 7 RBI, and 41 strikeouts in 94 at-bats. He's been slow out the gates, but Yankees fans are hoping he'll heat up along with the weather. Gallo is clearly well aware of his deficiencies as a hitter but knows that any efforts to make significant adjustments to his profile as player would be in vain.