For Rangers’ Odor, seeing is believing

Rougned Odor entered Friday as the proud owner of a two-game hitting streak, with hits in both games since moving to the No. 2 spot in the Texas Rangers’ batting order.

The second baseman was there for a third straight game to open a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners, but he said that the move from the cleanup spot and No. 5 spot in the batting order is not the reason for his success.

Manager Jeff Banister wasn’t completely convinced, though he also agreed with Odor’s assessment as to why suddenly, for two games, he was hitting again.

“I’m seeing the ball better right now,” Odor said. “It’s just something we feel. I don’t know how to explain that.”

It might be that simple, Banister said. When a hitter is seeing the ball better, his timing his better and his approach gets better. To that end, Odor also had a two-game walk streak and wasn’t missing his pitch when he got it.

Before Wednesday, he was getting his pitch and either fouling it off or taking it for a strike. Odor said that he is being more aggressive, which doesn’t mean taking wild swings but pulling the trigger when he sees a pitch he can handle.

“I feel like I was not that aggressive at the plate,” he said. “I just told myself to go up there and be aggressive.”

This story was originally published May 5, 2017 at 7:11 PM with the headline "For Rangers’ Odor, seeing is believing."