Alex Gordon Debate

by juano on Jun 27, 2008 11:04 AM EDT

Just to fuel the fire of the AB debate, I arbitrarily looked back at drafts from 1989 to 2005 to compare Alex to his peers, which I considered (again arbitrarily) to be position players, drafted in the top 5 out of college. I found 20 such players and you can see what they did (are doing) in their 2nd and 3rd years after the draft. of the 16 that went between 1989 and 2003, it looks like a good mix of busts, ERSTADS and stars. I think its safe to say the jury is still out.

I also think an interesting comparison is Burrell, he didn't make his ML debut until May 25th of his 2nd year and went on to a 106 in 111 games. I don't know what AGs OPS+ was from May 25 on last year, but I'd guess it was comparable. If Gordon turns into Burrell offensively, I think we'd all be happy. Discuss amongst yourselves.

	year		2 years later			3 years later
Name	drafted	Pick	Age	Games	OPS+	Games	OPS+
Harris, Donald	1989	5	23	18	228	24	12
Kelly, Mike	1991	2	23	0	---	30	104
McCarty, David	1991	3	23	98	46	44	79
Nevin, Phil	1992	1	23	0	---	47	44
Hammonds, Jeff	1992	4	23	68	105	57	66
Mottola, Chad	1992	5	22	0	---	0	---
Williamson, Antone	1994	4	22	0	---	24	34
Erstad, Darin	1995	1	23	139	112	133	114
Cruz, Jose	1995	3	23	104	110	105	97
Lee, Travis	1996	2	23	146	103	120	77
Glaus, Troy	1997	3	22	154	98	159	150
Burrell, Pat	1998	1	23	111	106	155	110
Drew, J.D.	1998	5	24	135	120	109	161
Munson, Eric	1999	3	23	17	24	18	54
Texiera, Mark	2001	5	23	146	102	145	131
Weeks, Rickie	2003	2	22	96	90	95	96
Gordon, Alex	2005	2	23	151	87	77	101
Clement, Jeff	2005	3	23	9	237	21	56
Zimmerman, Ryan	2005	4	22	162	107	50	87
Braun, Ryan	2005	5	23	113	153	77	127

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Comments

that is the "fire of the AG debate"

Nobody will celebrate harder when the Royals make the playoffs!!

by juano on Jun 27, 2008 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

I think Glaus is a good comparison

and if Gordon has a career like that, I don’t think we should be disappointed.

by loyal2sdad on Jun 27, 2008 11:44 AM EDT reply actions

I hope his next contract

includes a claus that gives $250,000/year for his wife’s equestrian pursuits

OMG Banny. FWIW I am only crdtng u w/3 runs allwd bc of DDJ OMFG

by Matt Klaassen on Jun 27, 2008 12:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Post videos.

Sarcasm™. It's the new gravy.

by jonfmorse on Jun 27, 2008 3:35 PM EDT up reply actions

For some reason

I’ve always thought he was similar to Eric Chavez. If he can have Chavez’s peak for a couple years longer, that’s pretty damn solid.

Rowdy Hardy Fan Club member.

by doublestix on Jun 27, 2008 2:55 PM EDT reply actions

Sure, but some seemed to be arguing that

since Gordon was drafted in the top 5 he should already be an offensive star with contentious arguments about the merrits of going to college v. low minors and how each affects progress differently at different ages and this and that. I simply wanted to see how he compares with others who were drafted, like him, in the top 5, and like him, from the college ranks. Chavez may be a good comparison, but he didn’t fit my criteria since he didn’t go to college.

I don’t know if anyone else found the info useful, but I was more encouraged after compiling it, because it appears that those on the list who were busts, were already doing nothing by the time they were 24, which clearly, Alex is not.

Nobody will celebrate harder when the Royals make the playoffs!!

by juano on Jun 27, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions

+1

Alex is hardly a bust.

A mind without purpose will walk in dark places.

by NHZ on Jun 27, 2008 6:14 PM EDT up reply actions

+1 2.0

I used to be an A's fan until they left town and got good.

by philofthenorth on Jun 27, 2008 7:28 PM EDT up reply actions

Gordon is terrible

that 3 run double and the absolute BOMB he hit against the second fence in right-center prove that he has no room for improvement, and at 24 is washed up to the point where we should probably be looking for another 3B of the future…....everyone knows that baseball players peak years are from 22-25, after that they cannot and will not improve, bring up Hosmer as soon as we sign him and then we will have a star!!!

by I need more Esteban on Jun 28, 2008 4:14 PM EDT reply actions