Rangers Rougned Odor has no regrets about punching Jose Bautista

 Texas Rangers second baseman Rougned Odor did not apologize about punching Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista in the face Sunday.

Rougned Odor is still awaiting punishment from MLB for punching Jose Bautista in the face Sunday, but he came out and said he does not regret his actions.

An article on ESPN.com captured the feelings of Odor:

“I can tell when someone is coming hard to second base, so I was just trying to protect myself,” Odor said Monday of his decking Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista on Sunday in the Rangers’ 7-6 win. When asked if he regretted anything that happened, he said, “No.”

Odor punched Bautista after the latter slid hard into second base. Bautista had reached base originally after being hit by a pitch.

The contentious relationship between the two teams goes back to last year’s ALCS, when Bautista angered the Rangers with a less-than-humble bat flip in the deciding game of the series.

Odor’s reaction to Bautista’s slide may have been an overreaction, but it is surprising that this type of thing does not happen more often.

He was understandably angry that Bautista tried to take him out at second base, even with the new rules preventing blatant attempts to take out a defenseless infielder.

Players know that this is a part of the game, but that does not mean a player should accept his legs being taken out, risking possible injury, just because it’s how things have been. Sorry, Goose Gossage.

But the problem goes both ways, as Bautista was angry about being hit by a pitch. The cycle of purposely injuring defenseless players is outdated, and is a rather cowardly way to go about these type of situations. Hockey fans should agree with this way of thinking.

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Odor is going to face suspension, but his lack of remorse may show the changing feelings of players in the league, or just that he has a bad temper.