- Rougned Odor
Last season, Rougned Odor led the Texas Rangers in homers, slamming 33 of them in total. He finished the season with a .271/.296/.502 slash line. He had a career-high in hits and RBIs, getting 164 and 88 respectively. Odor flashed his speed as well, grabbing 14 stolen bags on the season, which was another career high for him. He was caught stealing seven times though (the same amount as his two previous seasons). Those numbers aside, he has one thing going for him. If there is one player on the team that already has a spot in the hearts of Rangers fans, it’s Odor. When he delivered that sweet punch to the face of Jose Bautista, he forever enshrined himself into Texas Rangers history. It was a wonderful moment. If you didn’t see it, here’s a clip. Bask in the glory.
With all of the love that Odor has in the Lone Star State, he has his faults as well. He isn’t patient at the plate. Last season, Odor only drew 19 walks in his 632 plate appearances. He had 135 strikeouts on top of that. His .296 on-base percentage was ninth lowest in the league (among qualified hitters). And yes, Odor had some marvelous plays at second base, but they came at a cost. He led all second basemen in the league in errors, committing 22 this past season. If you watched some of these errors, they didn’t come from complicated plays. In fact, the routine double play seemed to pose a challenge at times.
[Blake]
In Spring Training, Roogie needs to get back to the basics. He should be working on fundamental baseball. If he hopes to repeat his breakout season, he has to lower his number of errors. The routine double play has to be just that: routine. Odor has to be able to make those plays without issue. At the plate, he has to lower his strikeout percentage and raise his walk percentage. Patience is key here. Wait for the right pitch, and force pitchers into a deep count. If he can improve on these key areas, he will be an important piece of the Texas Rangers post-season run.