Position by Position:3rd Base

Alex Gordon- So much to say about Alex Gordon. He was primed for greatness from the start. He was a 2-time Gatorade High School Player of the Year. He then went to Nebraska then and began his Blitzkrieg assault. When the smoke cleared Alex was standing as the Golden Spikes Award Winner and tabbed as the number 2 overall pick by the Royals. He was also given a then club record bonus. Alex then began beating up minor league pitchers like they broke in at 3 in the morning en route to becoming minor league player of the year. Alex was starting to draw comparisons to another KC Royals 3B named Brett. He then made the club after only one year in the minors. In his first AB the stage was primed as he stood in against Curt Schilling with the bases loaded and... The Mighty Alex struck out. This was the tone for the first half of his rookie year as he disapointed most all pundits as he was near consensus preseason rookie of the year. He did show some improvement in the 2nd half though. His 2nd year was supposed to be his breakout year and it was to an extent, as Gordon raised his OBP by 40 points and showed the 2nd half splits of the player he was expected to be. Still to this point in his career he's been overshadowed by Ryan Zimmerman and even more so by Evan Longoria. Gordon seems to have lost his crown as the top young 3B in the game. This year is a crossroads for Gordon. Down one road is the path ESPN expects him to take. This path is to go on having an above average career as a .350-.360 obp 15HR guy since "all the unrealistic expectations are gone". The other path leads to becoming an elite 3rd baseman and claiming his place in the sun as one of the game's best. As a Royals fan, if its not the latter this team doesn't have any chance of contending for a World Series until Moustakas and Hosmer arrive. The reason to hope with Gordon is that he never saw AAA pitching so he may be slowly adjusting because of that. Hopefully this means Moose and Hosmer will see AAA. Alex's strengths are his ablility to hit for power, average, run the bases well, draw a walk and he even has the potential to be a good 3B with his solid range and laser rocket arm. His weakness is that he's often too patient at the plate as he set an MLB record for most called strike 3's last season. He also regressed some on defense. Alex could be the next big thing and I think he will. He could very well anchor a lineup like another 3B Dayton Moore may know named Chipper Jones. This year I predict Gordon hits .310/.410/.530 with 34HR's. Evan who?