You Must Remember This: Alex Gordon to Omaha

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At various points this offseason, Gage, Wally and myself at Kings of Kauffman will be collaborating to reminisce a little bit about a wild 2010 season and the things we’ll remember most. The goal is to apply some 20/20 hindsight to events of the past to remember our opinions at the time and how they may have changed since. Today, we’ll take a glance at Alex Gordon and his demotion to Omaha in May 2010.

The backstory:

In 2005, the Royals selected Alex Gordon with the second overall pick in the amateur draft. Gordon was finishing up a huge season at the University of Nebraska where he was named College Player of the Year. He made an immediate impact in the minor leagues, destroying Double A pitching to the tune of .325/.427/.588/1.015 with 29 homers in 2006 en route to being named the Minor League Player of the Year as well. Before 2007, he was ranked as the second best prospect in baseball by Baseball America.

With accolades like that, it’s no surprise that Gordon was in the lineup on opening day in 2007. Facing Curt Schilling, Gordon’s first at-bat came with the bases loaded. Here, the future of the Royals – the next “George Brett” – facing a future Hall of Famer in a big situation. A chance to make an impact right away and cement his name in Royals folklore.

And he struck out.

Fast forward to 2010 and Gordon had ended up with a reasonable though disappointing rookie season. He followed it up with signs of improvement in 2008, but 2009 was mostly lost due to hip surgery. That made 2010 an important year for Gordon, and the best way he found to prepare for that was to break his thumb diving into second base in spring training. He started the season on the DL and missed the first ten games of the season.

He played in 12 games up until May 1st when he was sent to Omaha after a .194/.342/.323/.665 start. At the time, the stated purpose was to get him some work in left field and to get regular playing time. Oddly, Gordon had been supplanted at third, in a roundabout way, by Mark Teahen who had moved to the outfield upon the promotion of Alex Gordon. It was Chris Getz‘s return from the disabled list that moved Alberto Callaspo to third and Gordon to Omaha. Getz, of course, is the last remnant of the Carlos Beltran trade that brought Mark Teahen to Kansas City.

After hitting lights out in Triple A, Gordon returned to Kansas City and hit .218/.311/.360/.661 with seven homers and 19 RBI in 243 plate appearances. For a while, it seemed Gordon could only drive in a run if it was via a homer, including a season highlight when he hit a three run walkoff homer against Baltimore in the bottom of the ninth on July 30th. For a moment, it seemed like that was the Gordon we’d been waiting for.

Gordon will open 2011 as the starting left fielder for the Royals (barring any trades). Now’s as good a time as any to look back on the entire saga.

Wally starts us off:

Then

When I first heard the news that Alex had been sent back to Triple-A a certain level of rage welled up inside of me. 2010 was supposed to be time for Gordon to sink or swim and yet again the organization was jerking him around and mishandling him. Then I learned that they were moving him to the outfield and I was a little less frustrated with Dayton Moore and company. A position switch made sense to me and I was elated weren’t converting him to 1B. A change that would have been very Royals-esque and served only to jack with the futures of Kila Ka’aihue, Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer. When I read that Alex had requested the position change and was willing to go to Omaha to make the switch, I was 100% on board and I gained a whole new appreciation for Gordon as a person and as a player.

Now

I have always been in Alex’s corner and have defended him against all comers in discussions with friends, family and other fans I have interacted with along the way. I still believe in his future with this organization and still believe he has a chance to become a star along the lines that we all expected. Maybe that’s just me being naieve, but it’s hard to ignore that he has a career minor league line of 0.321/.438/.578 in 235 games.

By getting away from 3B, Alex distances himself from the “next-George Brett” nonsense that was heaped upon him during his 2006 season in Double-A which earned him Minor League Player of the Year honors. Expectations are a bear to deal with and having to live up to being the next greatest Royals player or the franchise savior only added to the difficult circumstances Gordon has been dealing with. The move to the OF is a way for both the organization and Alex to hit reset and start fresh. Based on his defensive performance in the OF in Omaha and roaming LF in the majors (9.1 UZR/150) it apprears that he has all the tools to be an above average defensive outfielder. Since the Royals are severly lacking guys who are above average defensively this turn of events is an added bonus.

So now we have a still ultra-talented, athletic player who will turn 27 in February as our projected opening day LF. A player who despite the disappointment and setbacks still has as much offensive potential as anyone in the organization. His move gives the Royals their only legitimate home-grown corner outfielder and it allows Mike Moustakas to take over the 3B job in Kansas City as soon as he is ready (I’m hoping for Opening Day). One other benefit to Alex’s demotion and position shift is that it allowed Wilson Betemit a chance to flash some of his skills (offensively speaking anyway), which forced the Royals to bring him back for the 2011 season at a very reasonable $1 million salary. The worst case scenario is that Gordon fails in 2011 as our LF, but if he does he will at least be playing solid defense and filling a position of need at the same time. That’s better than having him fail at 3B, play subpar defense and potentially block the arrival of Moustakas in the process. Based on that and all of the above, I don’t see how anyone can view this as anything but a positive move all the way around.

Gage’s turn next:

Then

I can remember two main feelings I had when I heard the news about Alex’s demotion. One was “oh please don’t let them make him a pitcher next.” The other was that it both made sense and was completely illogical at the same time. It made sense because putting Alex in a place that might make him more comfortable and allow him to settle in at the plate would be a great thing. If things aren’t working out for you, then a change is needed to spark some productivity. That much is clear. However, I also had this feeling that it was an absolutely bizarre decision. Alex’s career had been mangled by injuries, which arguably never allowed him to settle in and hit. It’s impossible to prove that this was the reason for his setback, but making a position change didn’t seem to me as a helpful change if injuries were a big part of the problem. I was sort of torn about the move, and it gave me the thought that it could be a precursor to a deal or trade. It seemed like it was possibly a sign of the team’s lack of faith in Alex’s progression as a player. That was the thought in the back of my head, but it was never backed up by anything Dayton said or any hints from the team’s behavior.

Now

I think I’ve moved more into the first camp than the second. Alex needed a change to be able to open himself up to his greater ability. It seems to me that he’s more comfortable now than before based on when I saw him play here in Nashville, but I think it’ll take the offseason and Spring Training to really sort out if that’s true or not. Either way, I’m more accepting of the move now than before. As for the trade idea, it has surfaced that they are open to trading Alex. This has gone to the point where they’ve received calls and inquiries about him, but who knows how much further it’s progressed. I would suspect that a lot of the interest comes from teams looking for a third baseman and who think the Royals may not have a great interest in keeping him after moving him to left field. I have no idea if this is true, but everything Dayton and Ned have said lends to the reasoning that the Royals are committed to Alex’s emergence. Of course, what they say and what they do are two very different things.

Here’s my take on things back then:

I wrote a piece titled “Is Alex Gordon Still Part of the Process?” where my main concern was if it meant the Royals had given up on him, or if they were going to try to trade him. I was surprised at the move at first, but it was clear that Alberto Callaspo was hitting well enough to justify keeping him in the lineup, and Chris Getz was coming back from an oblique injury but had impressed in his first few weeks with the club and Gordon was the odd man out.

I wasn’t in support of the move, just because if Alex Gordon‘s going to learn to hit major league pitching, the Pacific Coast League wouldn’t be the place to do it. Plenty of players had made transitions to the outfield from the infield in-season or with little preparation or explanation. It was Gordon’s promotion that forced Mark Teahen to right field, but Teahen didn’t head to Omaha then to learn the finer points. He never went to Omaha to learn second base either, but the Royals tried him there too.

Mostly, though, I wanted Gordon to play, and not just play, but to play well. I remember the same whispers of Gordon and Billy Butler being the future of the Royals in 2006, when people said it might be 2009 when we start to contend. Then it pushed back a year. Then another. Now we’re still rebuilding and waiting. Alex Gordon seemed to be the symbol of that rebuilding – all this talent and no way to apply it.

Now

Overall, I think Gordon might be better off in the outfield. Watching him, he did just as well as anybody else might be able to, and he was an upgrade over Scott Podsednik‘s defense for sure. He made a few nice plays and looked comfortable. Another little thing is the move to the outfield seemed to rid him of his tendency to double clutch on a throw. Gordon’s glove was fine at third base, but he rushed his throws due to double pumping the ball. There was a hesitancy there and he made a lot of throwing errors because of it.

The move makes even more sense considering the development of Mike Moustakas in 2010. Moose hit 36 homers in the minors and is poised to reach the majors sometime in 2011. With hardly any other options defensively, Moustakas will be the third baseman of the future, so Gordon would have been shifted somehow anyway. Now, as we wait for the rest of the hitting prospects, at least Gordon can be settled in at a position that doesn’t block someone down the pipeline.

The hitting still hasn’t come around, and 2011, like the past two seasons, is a big year for Gordon, who’s promised to “dominate” this year. Some of Gordon’s offensive issues aren’t likely to go away just from a move to the outfield – he’ll still strike out a good amount – but in a lower intensity position, he may have more time to work out the kinks in his swing or get a better feel for outside pitches (which invariably come on two strike counts and leave Gordon muttering on his way back to the dugout after a called strike three).

Mostly, I’m an optimist. I still believe in Alex Gordon and I think in that eventual season where Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer and Mike Montgomery et al lead the Royals to the playoffs and beyond, Gordon will be a an important piece to that puzzle.

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