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By midseason, Gordon was receiving accolades for being one of the best hitting prospects in baseball. He participated in the Texas League All-Star game and was selected for the 2006 All-Star Futures Game. Declining to play for Team USA in 2006, Gordon led the Wichita Wranglers to the Texas League playoffs. He performed well in his first full minor league season, and won the Texas League Player of the Year Award and Baseball America's and Topps Minor League Player of the Year Award after the season ended. He also was named the MLB.com Double-A Offensive Player of the Year.
He had thrown 9 2/3 shutout innings this postseason entering Game 1, tallying five saves. Gordon's home run off Toronto reliever Ryan Tepera broke a mark set in 2000 at the height of the Steroids Era. The drive, which drove in the last run in the Royals' 5-2 loss, was his eighth this season and the 159th of his 11-year big league career.
Alex Gordon hits MLB's record-setting 5,694th HR of season
Rusty Kuntz, a coach in the Royals' organization stated that "If he can catch a fly ball in this mess, he’s going to be OK." While playing for Omaha, Gordon was named to the Pacific Coast League's All-Star team. Gordon was recalled from Triple-A on July 23, 2010, to take the place of David DeJesus in the Royals' outfield; DeJesus had been placed on the disabled list with a right thumb sprain. On July 30, Gordon hit his first career walk-off home run in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Gordon hit .264 in the month of August, but then slumped to a .177 batting average during September.
The Royals remain undefeated this postseason after toppling the Orioles 8-6 in 10 innings in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series. The game marked the fourth time in five games that Kansas City has played into extra innings, with three of them coming on the road, including Game 1 in Baltimore. Five days before Gordon’s ninth-greatest hit, Gordon smacked his fifth-greatest hit.
MLB Home Runs Hit by Alex Gordon | Baseball Almanac
During his time at the University of Nebraska, Gordon was a member of the 2004 United States national baseball team, which included players from 15 different colleges. He helped lead Team USA to an 18–7 overall record, seeing the majority of his playing time at first base. The Royals placed Gordon on the 15-day disabled list on August 23 because of a torn muscle in his right quadriceps. He would not return to Kansas City until September 12, although he did hit .311 in the month of September.
The Orioles then tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, as ninth-place hitter Jonathan Schoop drew a walk off Royals lefty Brandon Finnegan, then came home after singles by Nick Markakis and Alejandro De Aza. Gordon hit a home run off of Luke Gregerson in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 2015 AL Divisional Series. The Royals would go on defeat the Astros in five games, and would defeat the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Champsionship Series. In Game 1 of the 2015 World Series, Gordon hit a ninth-inning home run off of New York Mets closer Jeurys Familia to tie the game at 4. Gordon became a World Champion when the Royals won the World Series in five games over the Mets, the first World Series won by the Royals since 1985. Combined in the postseason, Gordon hit .241 with 2 homers, 6 RBI and a .775 OPS.
Gordon Hits MLB Season's Record 5,694th Home Run
Stanton has a chance to become the first player to reach 60 since Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa in 2001. Stanton belted 18 home runs in August, becoming the third player to hit 18 in a calendar month . He also joined Bonds as the only players to hit 30 home runs in fewer than 50 games. Rookies have also been major contributors, led by Aaron Judge, who has 44 home runs and has a chance to break Mark McGwire's rookie record of 49 set in 1987. Rookies have hit 711 home runs, the most ever and nearly twice as many as rookies hit in 2000. With 38 home runs, Cody Bellinger was tied for third-most ever by a rookie.
Of course, this was 2008, and Mark Grudzielanek hit into a routine ground ball double play to end the game down 8-7. In a back-and-forth game against the White Sox, the Royals were able to come back multiple times. Though the tenth inning was problematic, the 11th was particularly exciting. In the top half, AJ Pierzynski hit a ball to deep left-center field, allowing Joe Creed to score easily. Unfortunately, Esteban German unkorked a wild through that allowed Alexei Ramirez to score as well. He finished the regular season with a .271 batting average/.377 on-base percentage/.432 slugging percentage with 18 doubles, 13 home runs, and 48 RBIs.
Gordon, along with all of the Royals, attended the World Series parade and pep rally in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, at Union Station on November 3. Gordon was born on February 10, 1984, to a family heavily involved in baseball. Gordon's father played baseball for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and his brother played college baseball at the University of Nebraska Omaha. As a child, Gordon's family would sometimes make the drive from Omaha to Kansas City, Missouri, to attend Royals games. Gordon had a successful high school baseball career at Lincoln Southeast High School, where he was named the Gatorade Nebraska Player of the Year in 2002. He was also listed as one of the top high school prospects by Baseball America his senior year, and also received All-State honors in football that same year.
Ross Gload struck out to lead off the top of the tenth inning. Emil Brown, who had pinch-ran for Butler earlier in the game, then singled. After a Mark Teahen strikeout, Gordon stepped to the plate with two outs. Twins’ reliever Juan Rincon tossed a 1-1 pitch to Gordon, who hammered it to right-center field for a go-ahead bomb. He is one of Major League Baseball’s greatest left fielders, ever, having won seven Gold Gloves at the position. He is a three-time All-Star who received MVP votes in two separate seasons.
Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer and sabermetrician Mitchel Lichtman found that the balls became smaller and the seams got lower -- changes that would make the ball smoother and subject to less air resistance. According to ESPN Stats & Info, there has been a homer once every 27 at-bats this season, by far the lowest in a season in MLB history (29.4 in 2000). Baseball-Reference Bullpen 100,000+ pages of baseball information, How to Contribute, ... MLB Scores Yesterday's MLB Games, Scores from any date in Major League history, MLB Probable Pitchers, Baseball-Reference Stream Finder, ... Yost said he doesn't believe more players are swinging for the fences than in years past. Power subsided after the start of drug testing with penalties in 2004.
Against a pitcher larger than life, in a moment larger than life. For a moment, it brought back the magic, even against the wizard who calmed it. History has been kind to Gordon and third base coach Mike Jirschele, as Kansas City’s 2015 World Series win has alleviated the “what if” factor of this play. History has also made watching this play more tolerable, letting us focus on just how bonkers it was rather than dwell on the pain of the next plate appearance. WPA is a measure of the difference in win probability before and after an event. If the team’s win probability before a hit is 40% and the win probability after a hit is 50%, for instance, the hit’s WPA is .10, because it added 10% to the overall win probability.
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