It doesn’t sound as though Rougned Odor will be spending his inevitable suspension reflecting on his actions.
The Texas Rangers second baseman spoke to the media for the first time Monday after he started a brawl against the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday by punching right fielder Jose Bautista in the face. And while Odor knows he’ll be punished, he says he doesn’t regret it.
“I don’t know anything yet. I’m still waiting,” Odor told reporters, per the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Jeff Wilson. “I know I’m going to be suspended for a couple games. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Odor said he threw the right hook in self defense after Bautista’s late slide, too.
“I saw him standing there after the slide,” Odor said. “He was looking at me. I was like, ‘What’s up?’ He was close to me. I had to step back a little bit, and that’s what I did.
“I think you saw what happened yesterday. For me, I think it was a pretty hard slide, but you saw what happened. I knew he was going to come hard. I can tell when somebody is coming hard to second base, so I was just trying to protect myself. It’s part of the game.”
A suspension is expected to be handed down to Odor on Tuesday, and Bautista likely will get one for his takeout slide. But despite the history between the Rangers and Blue Jays, Odor thinks the spat is over. He even complimented Bautista.
“I respect him,” Odor said. “He plays hard.”
Thumbnail photo via Kevin Sousa/USA TODAY Sports Images
