Kansas City Royals: Alex Gordon Critical of His 2016 Struggles
By Tj Porreca
Alex Gordon didn’t mince words when discussing his play this season, as the Kansas City Royals outfielder is not pleased with his performance.
The Kansas City Royals are the defending World Series champions, and outfielder Alex Gordon opted to return to the Royals instead of departing in free agency. When the two sides came together on a four-year, $72 million deal to keep Gordon in Kansas City, it was hard to imagine that Gordon’s season would begin in the way that it has.
Gordon has played in 42 games, but he is slashing .211/.319/.331, with 4 home runs and 10 RBI’s. On Monday, Gordon was placed on the disabled list after he broke his right wrist while colliding with Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas.
On Tuesday, Gordon spoke with the media, and was asked if his injury, and the subsequent time off, allows him to have a mental break from the struggles he’s endured on the field this year. Gordon’s response was telling. Via the Kansas City Star and ESPN, Gordon offered: “Because I’ve sucked so far this year? Pretty much.”
More from Kansas City Royals
- Kansas City Royals: John McMillon call-up is a development win
- Kansas City Royals: Trade with Atlanta Braves for Taylor Hearn confusing
- Kansas City Royals: What to expect from Cole Ragans
- Grading J.J. Picollo and the Kansas City Royals front office at the season’s midway point
- MLB bullpen report: A couple of things to keep an eye on in June
Gordon elaborated, and went more in-depth on the challenges of being on the disabled list. “Obviously, I haven’t played the way I’ve wanted to this year so far,” Gordon told the Kansas City Star. “But the unfortunate part is, in baseball, you always have tomorrow, and right now I don’t have that. I just got to keep my head up. And hopefully when I come back, I’ll be feeling a little bit better at the plate and hopefully will help this team out a little bit more than I have so far this year.”
Gordon raises an interesting point. Baseball, as the saying goes, is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a long season, filled with peaks and valley’s for both players and teams alike. One of the benefits of baseball, if a hitter has a tough day at the plate, or a closer blows a save, is there’s usually an opportunity tomorrow to turn it around. But in Gordon’s case on the disabled list, “tomorrow” won’t come for a while. This makes it tougher, meaning he has to just bide his time until he’s healthy, and then do his best to get back to playing the caliber of baseball the Royals and Gordon himself have come to expect.
Gordon couldn’t pinpoint exactly what has been causing him to struggle this season. “It just hasn’t clicked for me yet,” Gordon said. “If I could explain it, I would probably be feeling a little bit better out there.”
While Gordon doesn’t know why he’s had a tough year prior to injuring his wrist, the time off may be beneficial. Gordon has proven he’s a much better player than both his numbers and performance this season indicate, and when he’s healthy he should be able to produce as he has in the past. Gordon has been an All Star in each of the past three seasons, and over that time the Royals enjoyed a great deal of success, including a championship.
The Royals, sitting at 24-22 through 46 games, are in third place in the AL Central. But Kansas City is just half a game back of the second place Cleveland Indians, and two games back of the first place Chicago White Sox.