Spring Training Takeaways: Rougned Odor is the Texas Rangers' X Factor

I remember the game I realized Rougned Odor could be everything the Rangers needed at second base after the departure of Ian Kinsler.

My family and my sister-in-law's family team up annually to go on a yearly vacation down to Galveston, Texas. It's not the most breathtaking getaway, but we rent a beach house, get sunburnt, grill out, kick the soccer ball, and eat way too many Oreos while playing cards past midnight.

In July of 2015, we diverted away from Galveston to take in a Rangers vs Astros game in Houston, which ended up being a very entertaining game. It also ended up being a very crucial game, as just about every Silver Boot Series game turned out to be that season.

Early in the game, Rougned Odor smashed an upper-deck home run to right field. Odor's bat flipped a couple times after contact in a time where bat flips weren't quite as accepted as they are now. If you want people to remember you back in 2015, flip your bat.

In the ninth inning, the Rangers clung to a 5-4 lead as Odor stepped in the batter's box at his own leisure to lead off the inning. Houston's Hank Conger took offense to Odor's lack of urgency. After the two exchanged words, Conger quickly shot up out of his crouch position, leading Texas' Prince Fielder to sprint over from the on-deck circle and separate the two. The two benches then cleared as the tension continued to rise.

As the Houston commentary says in the clip above, "Now we do seem to have a rivalry." And what made the whole situation even better for the Rangers was how Odor followed up the fracas.

It's one thing to stir up trouble. As a very amateur hockey player, I take pride in getting under my opponent's skin. Get in their head, chirp at them. Take away any mental advantage. But if you can back it up, if you can be that guy everyone hates to play against, but loves to play with AND put the puck in the net, you can be a valuable asset.

What Odor showed here is the exact equivalent in baseball. Be that same type of guy, but also be a productive player. Then, you become a very, very valuable asset. When you can follow up a fracas with a big-time hit in the clutch, you are a unique player. Is it the traditional good-guy that everyone can get behind? No. However, players like Odor are valuable in their own right.

As we know now, Odor went on to be a big part of that 2015 division championship team. And when it comes to Texas and Houston in that season, the Rangers won the division by only two games over Houston. If the Rangers don't add more runs in the ninth inning, who knows how the rest of that night plays out. Every game between these two teams mattered that season.

Now, I don't have to spell out the rest of Odor's career as a Ranger. We know what's transpired by now. It's only been written about a zillion times. But I want to say very clearly that I still believe in Rougned Odor.

I'll admit, I gave up in the middle of last year. I was uneducated and only wanted to make my judgement based off the box score. That's no way to evaluate players. If it was, anyone could be a general manager.

The way Chris Woodward spoke of Odor throughout the spring, along with the conversations I saw Odor having with Rangers' coaches and executives, he's more than willing to make adjustments and hit that level of consistency everyone wants to see him get to.

"For him to be a consistent – extremely, extremely talented player, if he can put that together on a night by night basis where he's actually consistently productive, now we're talking about somebody that can literally change our team in so many ways," Woodward said earlier this spring. "He's got to do that, he's got to prove to us, to me, to the organization, to the world that he can do that on a consistent basis. I think he's taken that challenge on."

We got a chance to see some changes in spring action. The leg kick in his swing motion looked a little more controlled, plus his overall approach at the plate was much more refined. In the small sample size of spring games, Odor batted .355 (11-for-31) with two home runs and nine RBIs. More important than spring stats, he wasn't an easy out more times than not. He was working the count, making the pitcher throw pitches – something every good Major League hitter does every time they step into the batter's box.

When the baseball season does finally get underway, I'm excited to see what Odor does with his adjustments. We've seen what happened to Gallo after the adjustments he made. It clicked for him right away and he turned into an all star. For Odor (and several other players), it didn't click as fast. But by September last year, Odor started to turn a corner and finished the season on a hot streak. Usually, those hot streaks come in the summer time.

If those adjustments help Odor produce consistently, talk about the massive upgrade the Rangers could have at second base – all without having to make an external move to do so.

That's why the Rangers invested in Rougned Odor. They're going to do everything they can to get him to be the player they signed him to be. They still believe in him. He alone could help change the Rangers' fortunes on the diamond.

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