Royals’ Alex Gordon hoping to find a groove, provide more power at the plate
An “angry” Alex Gordon at the plate might be just what Kansas City Royals need as they near the midpoint of the pandemic-shortened 60-game MLB season.
A veteran left fielder and seven-time Gold Glove winner, Gordon remains a physical specimen at age 36. He’s still a premier defensive outfielder. Offensively, he has struggled to get in sync in this abnormal year of fits and stops dating back to all teams’ initial spring training camps.
Entering Sunday’s series finale against the Minnesota Twins at Kauffman Stadium, Gordon had batted .200 with a .277 on-base percentage and .347 slugging percentage in 24 games.
He’s shown recent signs of coming out of his early funk, and he spoke openly about a different hitting approach when asked by The Star about it after Saturday’s game.
“Even though my stats aren’t good and maybe I haven’t swung the bat good early on, I’m feeling good right now,” he said. “I know the results haven’t been as productive as I want them to be, but this game is tough. Sometimes the results don’t show, but you feel good. I’m feeling good right now. Hopefully, that can continue (Sunday), the next day and get things rolling a little bit better than I started.”
Gordon’s recent results have backed up what he says he feels. He’s stung multiple balls up the middle, including one at more than 103 mph off the bat that hit Jake Odorizzi in the chest and sent him to the injured list.
He also sent another laser up the middle that whistled past Twins starter Randy Dobnak Saturday, followed by a 430-foot homer to center field later in the game.
The home run, which he powered out on an off-speed pitch ball below the strike zone, served as an example of Gordon’s changed outlook at the plate. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound veteran has turned his attention toward providing a power presence down in the lineup for the Royals.
“I’m honestly not trying to think too much at the plate right now, I’m just trying to do damage at the plate,” Gordon said. “Singles up the middle will come with a good swing, but my second at-bat, that’s kind of what I’m trying to do right now. Hopefully, I can build off that and keep producing and keep driving the ball.
“I’ve been working with my hitting coaches a lot lately and trying to work on some things and trying to be maybe more of a power hitter than I’ve been in the last couple years.”
In his last seven games entering Sunday, Gordon had smashed two home runs and produced a slash line of .278/.350/.611.
“Last week in Minnesota is when I started feeling more comfortable, just seeing my batting practice coming off the bat a lot better and just feeling more comfortable in the box,” Gordon said. “Hopefully, that can continue and I can contribute to this time. That’s all I want to do is help this team and be kind of a bright spot in that lineup.”
Last season, Gordon posted a slash line of .266/.345/.396 with 76 RBIs, his most since 2013. His 31 doubles and 150 games were his most since 2014.
“You take that pitch that he hit out to center,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of Gordon’s homer Saturday. “There’s just not many guys that are going to do that with that ball. He’s in a good place. Even the ball that he flew out to center, he just missed that ball as well.”
As far as Gordon making an effort, with the help of hitting coach Terry Bradshaw and major-league coach John Mabry, Matheny certainly seems on board with Gordon using one of his biggest natural assets — his strength.
“I actually noticed in batting practice in Minnesota,” Matheny said. “It almost looked like an angry BP. He just wanted to take out some frustration, and he was launching balls. I think he just found a swing that felt right and realized that was something he could probably implement, not just to trying to pull but to do exactly what he did (Saturday): drive the ball to the middle of the field and take his chances on how it’s going to carry.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2020 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Royals’ Alex Gordon hoping to find a groove, provide more power at the plate."
