Gordon at Ease With Spotlight: Even Facing High Expectations, Royals Prospect Isn’t Changing His Approach to Game.
By Bob Dutton, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Feb. 19–SURPRISE, Ariz. — Alex Gordon is an eBay commercial come to life with his calm demeanor that lets everyone know, without doing anything, that he somehow just belongs.
It isn’t just in the batter’s box, although it is there, definitely, where it most matters. But it also exists in the mundane tasks such as lacing up new spikes in the Royals’ spring clubhouse. It is, at once, indefinable but unmistakable.
“They call it the ‘it’ factor in baseball,” veteran captain Mike Sweeney said. “He has ‘it.’ He’s a special player. When I went down last year (to Wichita) on rehab and saw him play, I could tell he was head and shoulders above everyone else.”
Gordon, who just turned 23, will be scrutinized this spring, perhaps more than any other young player in baseball, while fettered with the pressure of being hailed as the Royals’ first can’t-miss, homegrown position player since Carlos Beltran.
He knows it and, initially at least, those expectations seem to rest comfortably on his 6-foot-1 frame as he moves through the camp routine.
“I just plan to take it the same way I’ve always been doing it,” Gordon said. “Have fun with the game and don’t let the pressure take away the fun. I just want to go out there, work hard and do what I’ve been doing. Not change anything.”
Gordon was a consensus pick last season as the minor-league player of the year, after a stellar season at Wichita, but he is in camp, officially, as a nonroster invite. And while the Royals offer no guarantees, they are clearing space at third base by shifting Mark Teahen, the club’s player of the year in 2006, to right field.
“We’re going to give him every opportunity to make the club,” manager Buddy Bell said. “But we’ve got to make sure we do what’s best for Alex Gordon. Because if we do that, that’s what will be best for the organization — and the fans — in the long run.”
Privately, club officials concede it will be a shock if Gordon doesn’t break with the club. He is already wearing No. 7 this spring, not some number in the 60s or 70s, which is what most nonroster invites receive. He wore No. 70 in last year’s camp, when he was around for little more than a look-see.
“We all know it’s not a matter of if with Alex Gordon,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “It’s a matter of when. But we don’t know how it’s going to unfold; we just don’t. We’ve just got to see how he plays.”
Gordon is ready. He arrived more than a week before Wednesday’s reporting date for infielders and outfielders, chased away from his home in Lincoln, Neb., by the relentless Midwestern winter.
“It was freezing,” he said, “and kind of depressing, actually. Not being able to go outside and hit was kind of a bummer. So it’s good to get down here in this (warmer weather).”
Even if it meant early exposure to the coming scrutiny. But this isn’t new to Gordon, of course. The spotlight followed him into the Arizona Fall League, once he signed with the Royals, and throughout the season at Wichita, where he batted .325 with 29 homers and 101 RBIs.
“It’s just on a bigger stage now,” he said, “but it’s the same attention.”
But, yes, he expects to make the club.
“Oh, I have the mentality of coming in, doing well and breaking with the team,” he said. “I set my goals high. That’s the way I’ve always been.”
To reach Bob Dutton, send email to bdutton@kcstar.com.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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