Lincoln to KC

Lincoln to Kansas City with stops in Wichita, Omaha and Northwest Arkansas sounds like the start of a country song but I'm talking about the start of Alex Gordon's career. Gordon was a superstar on the fast track only to encounter speed bumps in the form of injuries and sub par performance. This season is the third attempt to jumpstart his pro career and live up to the original expectations.


Gordon is a native of Lincoln, Nebraska who became a hometown hero by reaching All-American status twice playing third base for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. He started his Nebraska career by earning Freshman All-America honors by hitting .319 with seven home runs, 48 RBI, and 45 runs over 62 games. His All-American sophomore season displayed an impressive .365 average with 18 home runs, 75 RBI, and 64 runs over 59 games. He continued to raise his performance as a junior hitting .372 with 19 home runs, 66 RBI and 79 runs over 72 games as the team won a school record 57 games that included Nebraska's first CWS win.


With such a stellar college resume the Kansas City Royals jumped at the chance to claim him second overall in the 2005 MLB draft. They started his pro career in 2006 with Double A Wichita where he lived up to expectations when he hit .325 with 29 home runs, 101 RBI, 111 runs, and 22 steals over 130 games. That great season led to Gordon being named Baseball America's minor league player of the year. 


2007 had the Royals wanting to capitalize on their uber-prospect by starting the season in Kansas City with only one season of minor league experience. The term seasoning seems appropriate. Did Gordon make the jump from Double A to the big league without seeing enough pro pitching? 


The numbers Gordon put up in 2007 and 2008 were deemed by many as disappointing because he did not live up to his draft and prospect status. In 2007 he hit .247 with 15 home runs, 60 RBI, 60 runs and 14 steals over 151 games. His 2008 season showed some improvement when he produced a .260 average with 16 home runs, 59 RBI, 72 runs and nine steals over 134 games. Gordon also missed 18 games in 2008 due to a torn quadriceps muscle on his right leg.


His 2009 season was derailed in April when he tore cartilage in his right hip sliding into second base. It was an injury that would have ended his career three decades earlier but with advancements in surgery and rehab he was able to return that same year. In the 49 games Gordon did play that season he hit .232 with six home runs, 22 RBI, 28 runs and 5 steals. 


2010 was seen as a make or break season for Gordon only to be derailed by injury again when he broke the thumb on his right hand sliding head first into second base. That darned second base! His stats that season with the Royals show he was struggling with his .215 average with 8 home runs, 20 RBI, 34 runs and only 1 stolen base over 74 games. It was that season that the Royals organization decided to move Gordon to the outfield and he spent most of that transition time with the Omaha Royals. While in Omaha he did hone his hitters eye hitting .315 with 14 home runs, 44 RBI, 59 runs and seven steals over 68 games.


What will 2011 bring? Gordon signed a one year contract in the off season and the Royals and their fans hope this is the year he kicks it into the next gear. In spring training Gordon appeared to be getting his hitter's eye back as he managed to hit .343 with six home runs, 23 RBI, 19 runs, and 4 steals in 24 games. While hitless his first game of the season he just missed an oh-so-close home run in the ninth that hooked foul which could could have produced a walk off 5-4 win instead of a 4-2 loss. But in a career of what ifs Gordon has done better the next few games with two multi hit games including a 4 for 6 performance today. A hot start may be just what Gordon needs.


Now a quick look at the teams of Gordon's past and present.


Nebraska is a puzzling team that has shown flashes of brilliance such as winning a series against UCLA and their high powered pitching staff. Kash Kalkowski, Kurt Farmer, and Cody Ashe lead the offensive attack batting .389, .356 and .333 respectively. The pitching staff is lead by Matt Freeman and Tyler Niederklein although the most promising Logan Ehlers has yet to see the field due to a questionable ruling by the NCAA. (That might be a future rant.) So far the Huskers have an 18-11 record in 2011.


The Royals minor league system is touted as the best this season and Double A Northwest Arkansas and Triple A Omaha have four of the top 100 prospects each according to Baseball America. The highest four prospects on Northwest Arkansas' roster are outfielder Wil Myers, shortstop Christian Colon and pitchers John Lamb and Chris Dwyer. Plus I've long had a soft spot for infielder Jeff Bianchi who was drafted in the second round behind Gordon in 2005 and has also had some injury issues. The four top prospects on the Omaha roster are1B Eric Hosmer, 3B Mike Moustakas, and pitchers Mike Montgomery and Danny Duffy. Both teams actually played each other in a exhibition game yesterday in Kansas City and the fans present were given a glimpse of the future.


Until the uber prospects arrive in KC over the next couple seasons GM Dayton Moore has duct taped a roster together with the lowest budget in the MLB at $36 million. Besides Gordon the other big names on the roster are infielder Billy Butler and closer Joakim Soria. Historically the Royals haven't had many home run hitters but hopefully rookie first baseman Kila Ka'aihue starts to change that. Luke Hochevar and Jeff Francis show the most promise on the pitching staff. Many of the current roster are just place holders until the calvary starts to arrive next year but the may surprise some people. Ned Yost is a good manager and could get results. If Gordon leads this team and starts to perform as promised he may still be with the team when the next wave of uber prospects arrives. Here's to hoping he gets it done!