Is It All Coming Together For Rougned Odor with the Texas Rangers?

With Rougned Odor flashing the bat and the glove as of late, could he finally be put in a situation where he reaches his potential for the Texas Rangers?

The Rise

Flashback to 2016, Rougned Odor hits .271 with 33 bombs and 88 RBIs, albeit while striking out aplenty. It was looking as if he was becoming a perennial middle of the lineup type player, with the type ferocity and attitude that could punch Jose Bautista in the face or hit a game-winning dinger down the stretch. With 33 homers, Rangers fans were clamoring for that type of raw power to come from a second baseman.

The Fall

The Rangers were on top of the world with the amount of potential they believed they had uncovered, but it all came crashing down to earth in 2017. Where he pretty much statistically had the worst 30 home run season in MLB history, which included 162 strikeouts, a .204 average, and an abysmal 32 walks. Which was surprisingly 13 more than the previous season; though the low walk totals look better with 27 fewer strikeouts and a slugging percentage of 105 points higher.

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The tale of the tape in early 2018 wasn’t much better. It was nearly a year and a half slump, the type of slump that could destroy a hitters confidence and approach, but it didn’t. He finished the second half of 2018 much stronger, with a 2nd half slash of .266/.333/.467 to go along with 12 Homer’s to the first half’s 6. To go along with that he was also a gold glove finalist. He was showing signs of life and signs of belief in the changes of approach.

Finally Coming Together?

Flash forward, it’s 2019 spring training and he is putting on a show so far. While I realize it’s only spring training and these stats do not matter, it is still fun to look at what he is doing. He is hitting at a slash of .355/.429/.742 with 4 walks and 3 home runs in 35 plate appearances. Odor is going deeper in counts and taking pitches that previous Odor wouldn’t have.

It’s a positive sign that he is making the necessary adjustments and if they carry over into the regular season there’s no telling how effective he could be for this young and hopeful team. We’ve already seen the 30 home run power with the overly aggressive approach at the plate; if this new approach sticks and we see more consistent hard contact could he become the 5th-second baseman to hit 40 in a season? Could he hit .280 to .300? I’m excited to see the possibility of his potential all coming together hopefully for a full season, and I believe many other Rangers fans would agree.