Saturday, December 19, 2020

Ben Gallo played seven seasons, then turned coach at Reno, worked on pitcher concentration


His Reno Silver Sox pitchers went through a rough patch from June into early July in 1990 and pitching coach Ben Gallo expressed concern, The Reno Gazette-Journal wrote.

The patch included three games in six where Reno pitchers had given up more than 10 runs, The Gazette-Journal wrote.

"Our pitchers just have to start being more aggressive," Gallo told The Gazette-Journal then. 'They're just not concentrating on getting through their first few innings."

That season marked Gallo's first as a pitching coach in the minors, having previously seen seven pro campaigns as a player. That season at Reno, however, appears to have been his only season as a pitching coach.

Gallo's time in baseball began in 1980, taken by the Giants in the 16th round of the draft out of San Diego State University.

He started with the Giants at rookie Great Falls. He went 4-2 over 21 outings, with a 4.76 ERA. He then moved to single-A Clinton and single-A Fresno for 1981. He went 7-6 overall that year, with a 3.77 ERA.

Gallo stayed at Fresno for 1982 and 1983, then moved to the Angels system and single-A Peoria for 1984 and single-A Redwood for 1985.

In July 1985, Gallo made a bid for a no-hitter in the second half of a doubleheader, but a bad hop broke it up, The Petaluma Argus-Courier wrote.

"In the third or fourth inning I was thinking about a no-hitter," Gallo told The Argus-Courier. "I sensed it. The one hit they did get took a funny hop. Otherwise, Kris would have gotten it easily."

Gallo went 5-2 over 38 outings, four starts, with a 3.43 ERA that year. He then moved to single-A San Jose for 1986. He saw 16 outings, four starts there, with a 5.90 ERA to end his playing career.

He then returned to the field with Reno in 1990 as pitching coach. The club went 71-68 in his only season as a coach.

1990 Minor League Tally
Players/Coaches Featured:3,533
Made the Majors:1,227-34.7%
Never Made Majors:2,306-65.3%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:509
10+ Seasons in the Minors:304

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