Shin-Soo Choo and Rougned Odor have been Texas Rangers teammates since 2014, Odor’s rookie season.
That’s 869 scheduled games and 2,940 Choo plate appearances.
It’s 2,940 times when Odor has had the opportunity to observe first-hand, sometimes from as near as the on-deck circle, one of the most professional hitters the Rangers organization has ever employed.
Shin-Soo Choo knows the strike zone as well as anyone in baseball, umpires included, as video evidence can support. Yes, Choo still gets fooled by pitches at times, as all good hitters do. But Choo’s patience is exemplary. He never wastes an at-bat.
That’s one of the main reasons the Rangers signed him to a seven-year, $130-million contract in December of 2013. Choo’s focused approach, his ability to challenge opposing pitchers, was going to set a patient example for all the free-swinging Rangers to follow.
And that, as much as anything, is why the Rangers need to pull the plug for now on Rougned Odor.
If he’s learned anything from his proximity to Choo and if he’s discerned even a smidgen from watching teammates Elvis Andrus, Joey Gallo, Nomar Mazara and Ronald Guzman prosper with a more perceptive approach, Odor either hasn’t shown it or resisted it.
Manager Chris Woodward sat Odor last night instead of starting him against the Orioles. A similar “night off” came last week, which prompted Woodward to explain, “What’s going on right now, it’s not getting it done. It’s not working. But I haven’t given up on him, obviously. I keep playing him. I believe in him more than any player on the roster.
“But at some point, he needs to dig in a little deeper. Try some things that maybe he’s not accustomed to. Because you did it three years ago doesn’t mean it’s magically just going to come back.
“I don’t want to do the ‘hope’ thing. We’re past that. I want to see some push to a solution and understand what the solution is.”
Never has a member of the organization spoken more frankly about Odor’s situation. On the contrary, Odor has been given unprecedented leeway. What other club played a .204 hitter (with a .649 OPS) in all 162 games, as Texas did in 2017?
Odor’s average sits at .166 this season after his pinch-hitting appearance Wednesday night. His last 13 games have produced no homers and 15 strikeouts. A strong case can be made that Rougned Odor has become the easiest out in the American League.
Excuse my use, however, of the present perfect tense. Odor mostly has been struggling, it seems, since the start of the 2017 season, when general manager Jon Daniels gifted the then-23-year-old with a $49.5-million contract extension that extends through 2022.
Unprecedented leeway, unprecedented faith.
Apparently, to a bafflingly sizeable segment of Rangers fans, Odor remains a favorite, however. And we all know why.
He’s Rougie, the Guy Who Threw the Punch That KO’d Jose Bautista. Supposedly, the great unwashed consider this one of the great moments in franchise history, right up there with Nolan Ryan hammering Robin Ventura on the noggin and Jeff Banister poking his finger in the chest of Astros manager A.J. Hinch.
But back to the ballgames . . . .
Woodward talked at length last week about his blunt expectations for Odor moving forward.
“I just don’t like going down the same road over and over,” the manager said. “Taking the same batting practice approach, doing the same things. Let’s change something up. Let’s try to get a different result.”
I don’t understand Odor’s problem at its root, however. He comes from a baseball family. His uncle Rouglas Odor, has been with the Cleveland franchise for 29 years and manages the Indians’ Double-A Akron farm club.
He should be baseball savvy, in other words, but Rougned leaves heads scratching sometimes with his all-or-nothing whiffs and his baserunning. Over the past two seasons, Odor has 16 stolen bases but has been caught 17 times.
His manager and teammates talk about all the “hard work” that Odor does. But from what I gather, his workout regimen consists mostly of two things: weight training and swinging hard in extra batting practice.
No video study? No consultation with Gallo or Elvis to see what they’ve done? Adrian Beltre tried to suggest fixes, but Odor apparently just headed back to the batting cage and tried the same thing.
After all, in Rougie’s mind, he’s done it once, so he knows how to do it again. The source of his abundant confidence is his 2016 season, when he hit .271 with 33 home runs, a season that is looking more and more like an outlier.
Here’s an intriguing stat line:
Before Odor signed his $49.5-million contract, he played in 384 MLB games and had a slash line of .265/.302/.464/.766.
Since signing the contract, he’s been in 335 games and has a line of .218/.278/.398/.673.
Is he fixable? Maybe.
But that shouldn’t come at the team’s – and the fans’ – expense. If Odor is going to ever figure it out, he needs to prove it over an extended period, and figure it out somewhere where he’s not going to hurt the major league team.
Nashville, I hear, is a great city.
While it may seem rash to send a $49.5-million player to the minor leagues, the alternative seems even rasher. What if he doesn’t rebound soon, and Odor bats below .180 for the rest of the season? How do you pencil him in as your starting second baseman in 2020, when the new ballpark opens?
Does Odor even realize what he needs to do? I think that’s what Woodward was trying his best to suggest.
While his grip on the major leagues plummets, Odor has been doing things like adding more elbow padding, including an extra gold chain and, in the latest WTH maneuver, hiked his uniform pants above the knees – shorts!
He’s getting a lot of advice. Maybe too much advice?
One of Rougie’s heroes, it seems, is none other than Manny Ramirez. The two have corresponded.
Manny was Manny. But I can’t believe his “advice” is the kind that will get Odor out of his current rut. After all, Manny took shortcuts.
What, Odor ignores Choo’s example, but follows Manny Ramirez’s?
Odor has minor league options. Sending him to Triple-A for an extended remedial stay worked once before (2015) but, alas, the lessons learned didn’t stick.
I don’t see how he or the Rangers have much choice this time. As the manager said, Odor keeps going down the same road.
The road to Nashville, if you ask me.
