ODOR COMES THROUGH WHEN IT COUNTS
Late in spring training, Rougned Odor was scrambling to learn how to play right and left field. Since Fernando Tatis Jr. returned from his suspension, Odor has spent a lot of time simply biding this time.
“It’s hard,” Odor said.. “I haven’t been in this situation. But I’ve been talking to my teammates. I’ve been talking to (Nelson Cruz). He’s been in the league a really long time. He’s helping me to stay ready when they need me. This is the first time I’ve been in this situation and I’m just trying to do the most I can before the game to be ready when they need me.”
Starting at second base, Odor was ready in the first inning Sunday, fouling off three pitches with the bases loaded in working the count full off two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber. The seventh pitch was a curveball through the heart of the plate and Odor yanked it down the right-field line, clearing the bases to open up a 4-0 lead.
Odor also doubled in a run in the sixth inning off Nick Pivetta, marking the first time he’d logged at least two doubles and four RBIs in a single game in a career that began when he signed as a teenager with the Rangers in January 2011, when A.J. Preller was the Rangers’ senior director of player personnel.
Odor went on to hit at least 30 homers in three of his seven seasons in Texas before playing 102 games with the Yankees in 2021 and 135 games with the Orioles last year.
The plan in San Diego, after signing a minor league deal in March, was never to play that much.
And that’s taken some getting used to.
But this new bench role — Sunday was just the 15th start this year for the 29year-old Odor — was never something he didn’t think he’d figure out.
“The GM knows me,” Odor said after a two-hit day raised his batting line to .175/ .266/.298 in 24 games (64 plate appearances). “Manny (Machado) knows me. I played against him a lot. He knows who I am. Everybody knows who I am. Just trying to do my best to help my team. That’s it. That’s what’s on my mind all the time.”
Dixon’s opportunity
After starting Friday and Saturday at first base, Brandon Dixon sat Sunday against Kluber. With another left-hander on the mound Tuesday in Washington in old friend MacKenzie Gore, the 31-year-old Dixon figures to find himself again in the starting lineup at first base.
Outside the look he got after the Padres clinched a playoff spot late last September, Machado’s stay on the injured list represents Dixon’s best opportunity to carve out a role on this roster.
Dixon knows he needs to do something with it. The trick is not over-trying to do anything at all, and that really is a trick.
“If you can figure that out, I think there’s a lot of guys that would appreciate that answer,” Dixon said. “No, I think it’s just trying to stay in that moment and do what you can in that moment. Whether that’s a man on third, one out, or leading off an inning, it’s doing what the game calls for in that situation.”
Dixon is 0-for-6 with a strikeout and a hit-by-pitch in this recent recall from Triple-A El Paso, where his .689 slugging percentage over the last year-plus in the Pacific Coast League — 13 homers in 25 games last year and seven in his first 26 games this year — has the front office intrigued with what he could add as at least a right-handed bat off the bench.
Knowing Machado, he won’t be out long. Meaning the time is now for Dixon to prove he can translate some of that minor league success to the majors.
“Look, in the big leagues it’s about creating your opportunity,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said. “You get some chances and you have to take advantage of them. … The next step is him getting reps here and having some success. With Manny out, he’s got an opportunity to get some games under his belt.”
Lugo update
Seth Lugo began throwing Friday, but received a PRP injection in his right calf on Saturday in an attempt to boost recovery. He’s expected to continue treatment in Arizona during the upcoming road trip. While it’s too soon to say if he’ll be on track to return from the 15-day injured list when eligible, Lugo is not inclined to fully view this down time as a potential silver lining during his return to the rotation.
The 33-year-old is already up to 412⁄3 innings this year, threw 65 innings last year in the Mets bullpen and hasn’t topped 100 in a season since 2018.
Could this break in action help him get across the finish line?
Sure, but …
“We talked about that a little bit,” Lugo said. “It’s what the doctor mentioned. … I don’t see it that way. I want to pitch as much as I can.”