Why Do People Hate Alex Gordon?

Alex Gordon is one of many players to come out of the fabled 2005 draft -- along with Ellsbury, Zimmerman, Braun, Tulo, Garza (who the Cubs passed up), Upton Jr., Maybin, Buchholz, Jeff Clements and Lance Broadway.

Gordon was brought up to the majors after only one full season in the minors in 2006, where he posted a .325/.427/.588 line with 72 BB, 29 HR and 22 SB (3 CS) at AA. Undeniably spectacular numbers. However, in 285 games and over 2x the number of ABs he had in the minors, Gordon has posted a combined line of .253/.332/.421, with 107 BB, 31 HR and 23 SB.

I wouldn't give up on Gordon just yet, however. He turns 25 this year and took large steps forward last season. He cut his GB/FB ratio down from .86 to .66, increasing both his LD% annd FB% by shaving down his GB% by almost 5 points. His ISO increased to .174, while his BB% increased to a very patient 11.8%. Alex Gordon has yet to "raw home run power" in the majors -- he's posted 8.5% and 8.9% HR/FB percentages so far -- and he might never turn out to be a 30+ HR hitter, but that doesn't make him useless.

As of 208, Alex Gordon is a soon-to-be 25 year old 3B who plays average defense, walks a lot, already smacks 35 doubles a season. He also hits 15+ home runs too. So while Alex Gordon may not be a fantasy commodity, he is still quite valuable in real terms.

9 comments:

The 'Bright' One said...

look at his contact percentage. it's way below league average. thats a big reason i dont like him

David "MVP" Eckstein said...

His contact rate is in line with players like Arod, Agon, Fielder, Holliday and Longoria. He's fine.

He's also dead average in terms of O-Swing, so he's not just golfing (11.8% BB).

The 'Bright' One said...

he had the 23rd worst contact rate this year and 17th worst last year. I looked at everyone worse than him, and they all had more home runs than him except for aaron rowand. so his puny homer total doesnt justify his inability to make contact. mark reynolds is allergic to baseballs, but can at least hit 30 homers by accident. i'd take gordon over reynolds by the way, but they both kinda suck

i also dont particularly like the win value dollars they have on fangraphs. i think it's overly exaggerated due to the increased spending of baseball the past 3 years

David "MVP" Eckstein said...

Win Value is based on average contract spending. You can't just have $$ value exist in a vacuum. It has to be benched marked against the entire pie of expenditures.

Also, it's not like Gordon has Jack Cust's contact rate. He's surely not a 300 (let alone 325) hitter, but he's not bad. He's valuable

The 'Bright' One said...

or you can simply take out $$ value and just stick with win value. not even jim bowden would have valued alex gordon at 11 mil last year, that is before he skimmed about 2 mil off the top, haha

David "MVP" Eckstein said...

Alex Gordon is better than Ryan Zimmerman

The 'Bright' One said...

i would take 06-07 zimmerman over 07-08 gordon any day

Adam Kaplan said...

1) THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for not putting yourself in the label post
2) I think the real reason people are upset with Alex Gordon was because of the hype and expectation that came with him. Everyone touted him as the next George Brett and when he came out as an average 22/23 year old who only spent one year in the minors, people got pissed. I agree, I wouldn't draft in fantasy and I wouldn't give up on him either, but the kid got an unfair label attached to him. Now he's forced to live up to that label and because he's really just a kid, people don't like Alex Gordon
3) Fuck Ryan Zimmerman as well. He hasn't done shit since his rookie year
4) Also, why the FUCK isn't Lance Broadway in the majors! WTF! Stupid White Sox

Cubsfan4evr said...

Alex Gordon just needs some time to develop. He will be good one day. They rushed him and he hasn’t lived up to the lofty expectations set for him. In 2-3 years he will be as good as everyone thought.