A year later, Rougned Odor has not allowed Jose Bautista punch to define him as a player

ARLINGTON, Texas — A year later and here is what you need to know about Rougned Odor and "The Punch": He says he hasn't autographed a single image of him rattling Jose Bautista's jaw with a right cross.He says he never will.In the days after the punch, an autograph session was initially scheduled at which a local memorabilia store would charge fans $59 to have a picture of anything, but the punch, signed; Autographed punch photos would sell for $99. Amid bad optics that suggested he was going to profit from punching out Bautista, Odor canceled the session. He has spent the last 12 months trying to distance himself from it."It was part of the game," Odor said last week when the anniversary was mentioned. "But it's in the past and it's something I never want to think about."And that's all he has to say about the subject.It isn't, however, his only statement.Odor prefers to make his statements on the field. And there, he's made plenty of points. He went on last year to hit a team-high 33 home runs and establish himself as the face of the next generation of the Rangers. He earned a $49.5 million contract from the Rangers in spring training and made himself into a local legend by taking a couple of quarter horses as barter to close the deal. He hit two homers in the season opener. He's endured an offensive slump since, but he is the only Ranger to start all 39 games this season."The biggest difference in him: He's rich now," Elvis Andrus said with a laugh. "But I don't think anything has changed for him. Evolved maybe. He's made a nice evolution into one of the guys everybody sees as a cornerstone guy. He's still learning how to do it, but he's adjusting to it."Said manager Jeff Banister: "I did worry about what the outside perception of him would be. I wondered how he'd handle the criticism. I wondered if that would change him. It hasn't. He still has the same passion and love for the game."Odor is the guy responsible for the slashing motion players make across the front of their jerseys after a hit. It is meant to point to the "Texas" on the front of the jersey, to emphasize that they play for the team name on the front, not the individual name on the back.He is the most emphatic of the slashers. He is also among the highest of the jumpers on high fives to celebrate big hits. And among the Powerade dumpers, who drown the game's hero on camera during their televised postgame interview.They are all raw, unbridled emotions, which is kind of what played out with Bautista on May 15 of last year. On that Sunday afternoon, which was the last meeting of the season between the Rangers and Toronto Blue Jays, there was still some simmering emotions from the hotly-contested 2015 AL Division Series. That led to Bautista taking a pitch off the elbow in his final at-bat of the series. On a ground ball to the left side, Bautista took off from first and went in hard and late to second, sliding well past the bag.He immediately got up and started towards Odor, who also had spun around and was moving towards Bautista. Odor shoved Bautista in the chest, Bautista took another step forward and was pushing Odor away when the punch landed. Bautista's cheek rocked. His sunglasses flew off. The benches emptied.It was a moment."He knew it was a reaction he wasn't proud of," Andrus said of Odor. "He knows it was violent. He just wants to turn the page. But I think he also knows how hard that is. It's the same thing that happened with Nolan Ryan and Robin Ventura, like 100 years ago, and that's still out there. This is more for the fans now, than for him or us."Fans shove photos of Ryan holding Ventura in a headlock at the Hall of Famer. He's signed them. On some, advertised online, he's inscribed it with "Don't Mess with Texas." Ryan was in his 40s when the fight occurred and his legacy in the game was already safe.The Rangers hope the legacy of Odor has yet to be written. Yes, it may include a chapter on the punch, but, a year later, they are more certain than ever, it will be only a chapter and not the whole story.

A year later, Rougned Odor has not allowed Jose Bautista punch to define him as a player

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