Texas Rangers promote Joey Gallo

With Adrian Beltre on the 15-day DL, the Rangers have to plug a hole at third base for the immediate future, but they already have a solution. Jon Daniels confirmed on the Ben & Skin show that top prospect Joey Gallo will be called up today.

Beltre dislocated his thumb sliding into second base on Sunday and the injury required four stitches. While the news was good overall in that there wasn't a fracture, Beltre is expected to miss at least two weeks with the injury. In his place will be Gallo, the 21-year-old who is considered the team's top prospect and ninth overall in baseball.

He has flown through the Rangers minor league system, and made it to Double-A Frisco last year. Gallo has been with Frisco for the entire year, and will now skip AAA entirely, a move that some are worried about. In 34 games, Gallo has hit .314 with a .425 on base percentage along with nine home runs. While he'll likely get regular playing time for the next couple weeks, the Rangers have made it clear that this is a short term stint for Gallo rather than a potential final call-up like Kris Bryant.

If Gallo hits well, it will be difficult for the Rangers to send him back to the minors. For prospects of his nature, teams generally don't like to shuffle them from the minors to the majors, and is why they tend to call up top prospects when a full time position is ready.

Gallo could sink or swim in the big leagues, and there is a large risk associated with doing this. He's the final piece to the Las Vegas trio of home run hitters, and is the latest name to be added to the growing list of super prospects to be promoted this season.