Rougned Odor (2B, TX) - Fantasy Baseball Draft Sleepers

February 15, 2020

Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor is a 2020 fantasy baseball draft value. His ADP is undervalued, making him a potential draft bargain and late-round sleeper to target.

BALLER MOVE: Draft target ~pick 180

CURRENT ADP: ~218 overall

ANALYSIS: Rougned Odor just turned 26 a few weeks ago, which seems shocking since he broke into the Majors in 2014. Yes, he's struggled with strikeouts and has hit just above .200 in two of the last three years, but people continue to talk about him as if he's a finished product. At 26, he's actually just entering his prime. He has also improved his BB% from 4.9% to 8% to 9% over the last three seasons. It's not a game-changing shift, but it's real progress, especially when paired with an O-Swing% that has dropped from 38.3% to 35.4% to 33.1% over the same span. His K% may have been high last year, but Odor is actually showing a better understanding of the strike zone.

When he does make contact, he is doing so with more power, increasing his barrels each of the last three seasons before this outburst last year. Pair that with an 86-percentile Hard-Hit% and a nearly five-degree increase in launch angle, and you have a bat that looks like it can provide consistent power. In fact, Odor has hit 30 home runs and stolen at least 10 bases in three of the last four seasons. You're not going to get that from very many players, and certainly not any going this late in the draft. With more contact, and more powerful contact, Odor could put together another 30-10 season with a batting average around .230, which, if you remove his batting average from the equation, is enough to give him a rbEDV around pick 110 (23 home runs, 14 stolen bases, 77 runs and 74 RBIs)." Even if you penalize him for his bad batting average, he would still be worth taking before pick 200, especially if you're able to add solid batting average early in the draft.