There has been talk for a few weeks now, basically every day, that Rougned Odor needs to go back to the minors and figure some things out.
The poor 21-year-old was rushed to the bigs last year when he probably should've spent the entire season in Frisco, and yet he somehow survived and put together a respectable year at the plate as the youngest regular in the majors.
This year, pitchers have a book on him and it's basically something like this: "Just don't throw the guy strikes." It's working, as Odor is batting .144 with a .252 on-base percentage, and he just looks lost with no sign of figuring it out.
The question is, of course, who will replace Odor as the club's everyday second baseman when Odor does go down? Well, it'll probably be more of a platoon situation with Adam Rosales figuring into the equation. There's a career minor-leaguer by the name of Ed Lucas, who's waiting for his chance after being pretty solid this year in Round Rock.
But what about Delino DeShields Jr.? That's a guy who has to be on the big-league roster for the entirety of the season or he has to be sent back to Houston, and he's proven to be a lethal weapon on the bases with seven stolen bases and seven runs in 17 games.
He's batting just .200 in 35 plate appearances, but he's shown some grasp of the strike zone — something Odor never has — with five walks in that time. DeShields has been an outfielder this season, but he did come up as a second baseman and has been taking infield on basically a daily basis.
With DeShields having to be on the roster, anyway, and Josh Hamilton coming to further cloud the outfield which also features the team's hottest hitter at the moment in Carlos Peguero, what could it hurt to give DeShields a shot at second? It's worth a try.
