Over time, Rougned Odor has had the identical iconic swing. In Wednesday’s recreation in opposition to the Angels, he made some notable changes.

Rusty scentHis workforce’s struggles have been properly documented since his breakout season in 2016 for the Texas Rangers.

We are able to title his struggles no matter we would like, however I imagine his struggles are as a result of unhealthy swing mechanics.

I am right here to interrupt down a few of its mechanical adjustments over time, however extra particularly this spring.

We’ll begin with this video of Rougie going to the yard in opposition to Oakland in 2017.

Rougned Odor has made changes to his swing. Time will inform if it pays off for the Texas Rangers.

The very first thing that caught my eye was how rapidly he received a leg kick and the calmness of his palms on this video.

One of many causes for this he misplaced 1-2 within the rely and had to make use of a extra defensive swing.

I can nearly assure you that Odor coming again down early is an try to regulate to slack floor.

By decreasing his proper leg early, this permits Odor to make use of the complete energy of his trunk and hips to cross the ball and pull it down the road, or alter to a brittle ball, and be capable of use your palms to take it. to left area.

By comparability, Ian Kinsler and Michael Younger had been two of the very best in franchise historical past to decrease their entrance legs early and use the entire pack to their benefit.

When Rougie is ready to do that, he can do a variety of injury. When he is been caught in the course of his leg kick timing, he tends to hit at a excessive clip and miss throws that he would usually must crush.

Second, watch the little motion of his head and his palms.

These days, Rougie has been very agitated on the subject of the “bat” and the way in which he tries to cost his swing.

A baseball participant’s swing appears rather a lot like a twisted rubber band.

While you twist and let go, it releases a variety of drive for a small object, a ball participant’s swing is identical.

When you’ll be able to get your palms again and cargo your swing, you create “spring motion” if you lower the ball. All that pulled again drive is launched as you let your hips undergo and end your monitoring.

Odor does an excellent job limiting his actions right here, which permits him to have a greater view of the ball for for much longer.

By remaining silent along with his palms, he removes any pointless motion in direction of the ball that will waste extra swing time.

One other factor about 2017 Odor is its top within the field. He’s very upright, whereas in recent times he has been leaning or leaning within the field.

We are going to speak about this a bit extra.

However, as a result of he struggled, he made extra changes to his kick, stance, and bat motion, which drastically affected his manufacturing.

So, Odor began experimenting along with his leg kick and his timing of the massive league pitches went haywire.

It would not take a rocket scientist to determine that if you happen to’re two or three milliseconds behind on a 99 mph fastball, you will not hit it, and that is the place Rougie has been for the previous few years.

His kick received extra excessive and he began to maneuver his palms, very like Brandon Phillips’ iconic swing.

Let’s check out Odor’s swing from final season in Colorado. Discover how he’s hunched over within the field, how far he strikes his palms, and the way excessive his kick has gone up.

The very first thing you must discover is how crouched he appears within the field and the way he closed his place.

A participant’s place is all about consolation and might be adjusted to work on completely different points of your recreation, specifically Cal Ripken Jr.

For Odor, closing his place, even a bit of, forces him to go additional ahead than along with his kick. Whereas doing this, he can nonetheless use a excessive leg carry, however it’ll scale back the time he takes to get right into a balanced hitting place when he vegetation his entrance leg.

Except for a extra closed place, watch how a lot he strikes his palms in comparison with the primary video. He additionally dropped his palms barely, making the bat extra perpendicular to the catcher.

Corridor of Fame member Jim Thome talks loudly about rolling the bat button down in direction of the catcher when loading your swing. It permits the batter to seek out the placement that can result in the quickest batting path by means of the zone.

The explanation I deliver up the motion in Odor’s palms is that he would not load his palms rather a lot on this video.

His palms transfer, however when he goes to load his swing, the again half of that swing loses energy as a result of it doesn’t absolutely “roll up” loading his palms again.

I firmly imagine that Odor’s struggles had been largely as a result of an exaggerated kick out of time and inconsistent cost earlier than swinging.

Now, I am certainly not a serious league hitter, however as somebody who enjoys learning the sport and its mechanics, there are flaws in Odor’s swing which have triggered him to wrestle drastically. .

With all that background data, let’s check out his changes throughout the Texas Rangers’ spring recreation in opposition to the Angels on Wednesday.

Here is what his place appeared like yesterday in comparison with final season.

Odor’s new swing may earn him a spot on the Texas Rangers roster.

Discover how within the backside picture how shut the Odor is, how curved it’s and the way excessive its palms are.

Then have a look at the highest picture and see how he straightened up within the field, lowered his palms, and reopened his place.

Additionally have a look at the positioning of his elbow.

The scent struggled rather a lot in 2020, we all know, but it surely additionally has to do with continually altering stance and shaking with its mechanics.

This offseason, Rougie has focused his palms and posture within the field.

Odor lowered his palms in an effort to drive a cost as he swung the bat, and saved his elbow all the way down to preset his arms into a superb slot for his bat to cross by means of the realm.

Beginning along with his elbow, protecting it tucked in like that, he permits himself much less motion when he masses and swings.

His elbow is already within the attacking place and might simply transfer nearer to his physique as he swings, creating extra of an upside-down swing that we have seen from different Texas Rangers greats like Ian Kinsler and Michael Younger.

Dropping his palms additionally forces Odor to load his palms and construct good torque earlier than swinging, which creates extra energy and energy than protecting his palms stagnant, as he did within the Colorado video. .

He additionally has the bat preset button pointed on the catcher, which permits him to maintain the bat within the space longer, giving him a greater likelihood to make contact if he is barely late.

Rougie has additionally returned to a extra upright place within the field, which we’ve seen him be very profitable with previously.

Standing, based on my observations of Odeur, helps him to remain balanced within the field.

Rougie is such a violent swinger that each time he has swung a bat over the previous few years he has fallen off steadiness and compelled himself into a nasty place when he swings.

By staying straighter, he can afford to regulate the swing midway by means of, whereas nonetheless remaining in a balanced place. It should solely assist him get a greater view of baseball as he arrives.

Lastly, and never proven above, he fees up with a much less extreme kick.

There’s a variety of energy in his bat, and he is fairly robust, so having that exaggerated kick harm him as he tried to punch for extra energy when he was wrestling.

Along with his new, much less exaggerated leg kick, he ought to be capable of generate almost the identical quantity of energy, however keep in a superb balanced hitting place and be extra capable of adapt to adjustments and different brittle balls.

In conclusion, Rougned Odor has managed to overcomplicate his swing mechanics over time that he has began to look misplaced at house plate.

Now, having spent an offseason diligently engaged on the psychological aspect of the sport and the mechanics, he mechanically appears like a extra polished hitter.

Solely appearances over time and on the plate will inform us if Odor actually made the mandatory changes to be an above-average huge leaguer as we noticed in 2016, however there will likely be a variety of hypothesis.

With Nick Solak greater than seemingly taking the second base place, Odor could have an uphill battle forward of him, however may discover himself in a a lot better place if he has a superb spring.