Deeper look inside Rougned Odor’s big day shows Texas Rangers some encouraging signs
Surprise Stadium is either full or has more than the usual number of butts in seats when the Chicago Cubs make the trek from Mesa, which was the case Thursday for a game against the Texas Rangers.
Those fans just didn’t have much to cheer.
The Cubs’ starter, Colin Rea, didn’t throw many strikes in the first inning. He threw one to Rougned Odor, who hit it just high enough into the thin Arizona air for it to barely carry over the right-field wall for a grand slam.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Nick Cuiffo (pronounced shoe-foe) and Andy Ibanez also homered, and the Rangers scored seven times in the eighth to pull away to a 13-1 victory.
The last out of the inning produced the Cubs fans’ loudest cheer.
Time of game: Too long.
Here’s the Surprise Five from Rangers camp.
1. Odor thought his grand slam was going to be a sacrifice fly but it wasn’t, and that’s why pitchers don’t like Arizona.
“I’ll take it,” Odor said.
He also doubled and singled during a 3-for-3 day that lifted his spring average to .556.
It’s early.
However, the things Odor did to get to 3 for 3 were telling to manager Chris Woodward. He’s seeing progress with the player who needs to make the most progress this season.
Odor was patient but aggressive in the first inning, watching three balls but taking a 3-0 hack. He fouled it off, but Woodward said being in attack mode might have allowed Odor to be ready to hit the next pitch out.
The double in his second at-bat might not have happened last year, Woodward said. Instead, Odor stuck with the changes he finally grasped at the end of last season and carried through the off-season.
“A little cutter in he maybe, probably, would have yanked foul last year trying to get the head out,” Woodward said. “He was able to stay through it, keep it fair and hit a double. He’s in a good place right now. Obviously, he has to stay consistent.”
Being consistent has been a mammoth if for Odor the past three seasons. Consistently good, that is.
He had a great Thursday, but check again in two months.
2. Tyler Phillips was the beneficiary of Odor’s homer, but he also benefited from the veteran infielders playing behind him.
They didn’t make any spectacular plays over his 1 2/3 scoreless innings, but they helped him work out some nerves as he made his first career start in a Cactus League game.
Todd Frazier and Elvis Andrus assured Phillips it was OK to attack a Cubs lineup that included Ian Happ, David Bote, Kyle Schwarber and Josh Phegley, and let them put the ball in play.
“I want to sit here and lie and say I wasn’t nervous at all,” Phillips said. “I think I was a little too quick at the start. I want to give some credit to the guys for trying to slow me down as much as they could.”
Phillips’ biggest takeaway was the need to be more mature on the mound. He was a bit miffed that his nerves got the best of him, and then miffed again that he let his guard down after getting out of some first-inning trouble.
He is also working on refining his four-seam fastball, which in the past has sunk like a two-seamer. He’s using it up in the zone, as is the trend these days, and finding success with it.
Phillips, who finished last season at Double A Frisco, is part of the Rangers’ rotation depth in the minors. In listening to him Thursday, it sounds like the outing could be a big one in his development.
“I’ve learned a ton from these guys,” Phillips said.
3. The eighth inning that seemed it was never going to end didn’t wear out Woodward, as it did four Cubs pitchers, the fans and the media.
Woodward was fired up.
He loved the approaches that the fill-ins, young and not as young anymore, took to the plate. It showed Woodward that the players have been listening to their coaches and have adapted to the analytics they have been shown.
They didn’t chase. They waited for strikes and put good swings on them.
The Rangers sent 12 hitters to the plate, and Cuiffo and Leody Taveras collected two hits apiece in the inning.
Cuiffo isn’t a prospect. Taveras sure is. Cuiffo, Taveras, Kiner-Falefa, Ibanez, Scott Heineman and Eli White are trying to make the team, either to open the season or at some point during it.
They helped themselves in the eighth inning.
4. Cuiffo, Sam Huff and Tim Federowicz are the only healthy catchers the Rangers have in camp as Robinson Chirinos, Jose Trevino and Blake Swihart continue to deal with assorted ailments.
Woodward said that Chirinos’ right hamstring is fine, but there’s isn’t a rush to put him in a game. He has been catching bullpen sessions and doing regular work on the back fields.
Trevino is trying to do as much as he can with his bruised right index finger, but throwing continues to be an issue for him. That’s a problem for a catcher.
Swihart left Wednesday’s game after only two innings while dealing with an illness. He was in the clubhouse Thursday and should be available for games.
Shin-Soo Choo, not a catcher, will play again Friday after resting an oblique injury. He was also under the weather Thursday and wasn’t a candidate to play.
5. Leaving the West Valley isn’t all that fun, but Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Angels will give the media a chance to reacquaint themselves with their counterparts from Japan.
One of the biggest blessings of being on the Rangers beat the past 10 years was the friendships made with reporters who covered Yu Darvish. Some of them still cover him after he left for the Cubs, but others have moved on to Shohei Ohtani.
No matter what he does — hits, throws a bullpen session, eats Frosted Flakes for breakfast — several reporters are there to cover it.
It’s not an easy job, with access limited to a player that it seems MLB and the Angels would want in the spotlight more, but these guys do it day in and day out.
That will be the highlight of Friday’s trip to Tempe Diablo Stadium.
