Kansas City Royals: Struggling Alex Gordon sent to the bench
The Kansas City Royals finally decided to bench outfielder Alex Gordon for an undisclosed amount of time after he has had a season-long slump.
The Kansas City Royals will be chasing a playoff spot with outfielder Alex Gordon on their bench rather than in left field. The three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover has had a dreadful season and with the Royals in the hunt for October, the team and manager Ned Yost have decided they are better off with Gordon on the bench, at least for the time being.
The Kansas City Royals manager said Gordon’s benching will be for an “undisclosed” period of time. Per MLB.com:
"“He’s scuffling… I’m going to give him more than a day. I always try to give them as much rope as you can. It’s just been a struggle for him. This will give him time to reboot.”"
Before Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Gordon was batting just .197 with five home runs, 34 RBI and a .580 OPS
The Kansas City Royals will replace Gordon in left field with newly acquired Melky Cabrera. Cabrera was playing right field with Gordon in left but Royals rookie Jorge Bonifacio will now be in right. Bonifacio is hitting .256 with 14 home runs, 33 RBI and a .751 OPS.
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"“Boni is obviously playing well,” Gordon said before Tuesday’s game. “So I’d probably do it if I was the manager, too. I just need to go figure it out and start playing better. And don’t put myself in these situations.”"
Yost also added that Gordon will spend significant time over the next few days with the Kansas City Royals’ batting coach, Dale Sveum. Neither Gordon nor Yost went into depth about the details of the plan.
“I’m not going to discuss it,” Gordon said. “No point in going into details. Just do it and get it done.”
Gordon did enter into Tuesday’s game in the eighth inning, taking over in center field, and was hit by a pitch in his only at-bat. The Kansas City Royals lost to the St. Louis Cardinals 10-3 on Tuesday.
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Gordon also entered into Wednesday’s game in St. Louis, again in the eighth, but failed to reach base. The Kansas City Royals have their final game against the Cardinals Thursday night at 7:15 pm ET and are trying to avoid losing their fourth straight game to their same-state rivals.