Rangers’ Jeff Banister takes exception to some taking exception to Rougned Odor’s style

Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor has had a penchant for irking some opponents this season with his hard slides, bat flipping and by what some could perceive as overly aggressive play. The Astros, for instance, took exception to some of Odor’s actions in July. At one point, both benches cleared when catcher Hank Conger and Odor exchanged words during Odor’s at-bat. When the topic was brought up before Tuesday’s game, Banister was having none of it.

“I take offense to any other player who thinks the way he plays the game is offensive,” he said. “Guess what? Everybody in the big leagues should play like him. It’d be a much better product.”

After the scrum in July, Banister said he has nothing but respect for opposing players who play with the same type of passion he sees in Odor.

“This is a young man that has passion for the game and goes out to play hard and win every night,” he said. “I take offense to anybody who believes that’s wrong. Shame on them. That’s my statement to that. Running hard, sliding hard, running everything out, playing with an attitude? Ask Bob Gibson about that one.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Rangers’ Jeff Banister takes exception to some taking exception to Rougned Odor’s style."