Tony Beasley is at it again.
Though the Rangers coach is in between radiation and surgery for colorectal cancer, he is still the Infield Whisperer. Last year, it was a heart-to-heart talk with Elvis Andrus. This year, Rougned Odor has suddenly become a project.
Beasley is with the team for another three weeks and is acting as something of a quality-control assistant since he can't man the third-base box. It's given him plenty of time to talk with Odor about smoothing out a defensive side of the game that has become rough in the last month.
Odor has made seven errors in July and leads major league second basemen with 14 errors. He ranks last among all second basemen in the more advanced metric of defensive runs saved at minus-7.
"He's played well most of this year, but he knows he's been a little bit sloppy lately," Beasley said. "I just want him to get back to basics. I want him to be the best he can be. I don't want him to take anything for granted. [Manager Jeff Banister] challenged us to stay out in front of things and be proactive, and that's what I'm trying to do."
In short, Beasley is trying to get Odor to be a little more active with his feet in his setup and approach to grounders. Odor has a tendency to stay back on balls, and that can often lead to not getting the desired hop. Beasley wants him to be able to better "manipulate" the hop.
The two talked in Chicago over the first weekend of the second half and started working one-on-one during the Rangers' series in Anaheim earlier this week.
