Angels Utility Man Luis Rengifo Discusses Importance of Separating Offense and Defense

"I want to be good."

Luis Rengifo knows that to be the best player he can be for the Los Angeles Angels, he has to separate his defense from his offense.

Honestly, the concept is taught in Little League. Coaches don't want their players to make an error in the field and bring it into the box or bring a strikeout onto the field. It creates a domino effect.

Rengifo spoke to Halos Today about how he plans to separate the two aspects of the game this season, and why it's so important.

“You have to separate defense and offense because you have more time to lose in defense than offense. In offense, if you hit a homer you’re gonna feel great. But if you make like two or three errors on defense, that’s costly. Runs for another team, who wants that? I want to be successful for my teammates, I want to be successful for my team. I want to be good.”

Rengifo's mental preparation has to be different now because he doesn't have a set position. He could play second base one game and left field the next. 

His preparation is unlike most of his teammates and the pressure hangs over him to be the best at whichever position is he playing that day.

“Just mentally, you have to anticipate what’s going on before you’re playing. And the most important thing is like, whatever position I play, I have to be the best that day. If I play right field, I have to be the best right field that day. That’s the mentality I have in my mind.”

Luis Rengifo via Halos Today

The switch-hitter has not appeared in a spring training game yet as he's experienced some hamstring tightness that has kept him off his feet. However, he's not expected to miss any regular season time with the injury.