My Apology to Alex Gordon

I have to say it.  This goes out to Alex Gordon; I am sorry.  There were people who had given up on the man we lovingly now call A1 (thanks to his text-in all star vote tag as well as the solid compliment to Billy Butlers “Country Breakfast” nickname).  I was one of them.  I said we should have traded Gordon before this year while there was still hope for him.  He still had some value because you could convince a team that he still might figure it out.  One more season of subpar play and that ship would have sailed.

The question is did I really have reason to think differently of any of this?  Gordon was the epitome of what we had been promised for years as Royals fans.  Somebody was going to come along and save this franchise.  Somebody was going to come along and the George Brett for a new generation.  Enter Alex Gordon.  He played 3^rd base, he threw with his right hand, and he hit with his left hand, all just like Brett.

Gordon was college player of the year in 2005 when he was drafted.  In 2006, his first full year in the minors, Gordon dominated in a way we had never seen.  He had a line of (BA/OBP/SLG/OPS) .325/.427/.588/1.015 with 29 HRs and 101 RBIs.  This was enough to make him Minor League Player of the year.  He was going to be the guy who could put up the same numbers in the pros and be the legit superstar to bring this franchise back to its greatness.

Things never seem to go as planned.  Gordon’s first year in the majors was underwhelming at best.  Starting with his opening day strikeout with the bases loaded, things didn’t go well.  He ended with a suspect, if not acceptable for a rookie, line of .247/.314/.411/.725 with 15 HRs and 60 RBIs.  Not great, but enough to at least give us hope. 

2008 saw his line improve to .260/.351/.432/.783 with 16 HRs, and 59 RBIs.  Again not great, but he showed some steady improvement.  Many people were calling for a bigger jump, but even at this point I still had hope.

2009 started with an injury.  This was supposed to be his breakout year.  It was hampered by his injury and so were his on-field results.  His third season went down as yet another less than stellar year in his young career.

2010 was where it really went downhill.  Halfway through the season Gordon was sent down to AAA and was told to learn a new position; left field.  This was the last ditch effort for Gordon.  You could blame injuries or moving through the system too fast, but ultimately he wasn’t producing and this was his last chance.  He had to learn a new position and get things together at the plate if he wanted a future in the majors, let alone with the Royals.

At the end of the 2010 season Gordon was asked what his thoughts were for 2011 and his reply was mocked in the media.  “I’m going to dominate,” he said.  If the Royals were a network sitcom (which they’ve been close to at times) this is where the laugh track would have been inserted.

I would have gladly added some laughter to that track.  At this point, I was calling for Gordon to be shipped off.  Send him away and get us two low-level, high risk/high reward prospects in return and move on from this era.  I was done with Alex Gordon and thought a change of scenery would be best for both parties.

Boy was I wrong.  2011 came along and the first month of the season started out with a bang.  Gordon started the first month of the season on a tear.  Hitting .329 with a .936 OPS, 2 HRs, and 19 RBIs, Gordon looked like a completely different player.  He had a new approach at the plate, seemed to be seeing the ball better, had a newer more relaxed swing and just plain looked more comfortable at the plate. 

The big test was going to be whether or not Gordon could keep this up for the whole season.  After slumping in month two to the tune of .234 batting average and .742 OPS, the first month looked like a blip on the otherwise underwhelming graph of Gordon’s career.  Then something began to happen.  He found his stroke from the first month of the season again and continued for nearly the rest of the season batting .300 or better.

Gordon ended 2011 with a line of .303/.376/.502/.878 with 23 Hrs and 87 RBIs, all of which are career highs.  This is the player we were supposed to see in 2007 and 2008.  This was the player who was supposed to be a key cog in the wheel of the Royals future.  Oh yeah, and he was playing pretty good defense too.

The buzz on Gordon as a rookie was that he could be a gold glover down the road…at third base.  He proved that to be true, but just at a different position.  Last week Gordon was awarded the gold glove for the left field position for 2011.  He led all majors in assists with 20 and had a .991 fielding percentage.  Defensive metrics lag behind offensive ones considerably, but those are some of the best quantitative measures we have to go on.  And anybody who watched Gordon make plays knew that he had become a special talent patrolling the corner outfield spot.

When Gordon originally came up he didn’t strike me as a player that the fan base could get behind.  He was surly with the media, seemed to be cocky, and just didn’t endear himself to the fans.  None of that is a problem so long as you produce, which Gordon didn’t.  The fans began to sour on Gordon as his production continued to be low. 

I for one didn’t like the guy.  He didn’t seem like somebody who was good for the team, he seemed like an individual, and regardless of talent I thought the Royals were better off without him.  Again, I was proven inexorably wrong.

Failure can do many things to people.  It can beat some down, it can defeat others, but it can make others stronger and better than ever before.  It seems that failure has done this to Alex Gordon.  He has turned himself into a budding superstar.  He is a player who has said, without actually saying, that he will take a hometown discount to stay in KC.  He now appears to be a humble appreciative player.  He constantly thanks the fans, makes appearances, and does charity work. 

Gordon may just be the case of someone who never had to grow up and never experienced failure.  With failure he really had to look at himself and his life and he matured.  He is now the player we thought he would be and more importantly he is the person we need on the Royals.  As a franchise KC is in a position where they both benefit and are hamstrung by their financial abilities.  The Yankees would have cut bait with Gordon.  The Royals had to stick with him, but nonetheless chose to do it as well.  Had they not, perhaps his career would not have gotten on track.  Lucky for the Royals and all of us, they did stick with him.  And I am sorry for ever doubting.