This entry could just as well be renamed 2009 Organizational Report: Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas, because other than these two there isn’t a lot to talk about as far as third base goes. (As far as I am concerned there shouldn’t need to be.) Alex Gordon will be the starting third basemen for the Kansas City Royals this season, and will most likely be backed up by Mark Teahen and Willie Bloomquist. If the Royals desperately needed to make a callup to Omaha Mario Lisson is perhaps the best of a few options. But let’s talk about Gordon.
There aren’t a lot of prospects who climb their way through the minors with as much hype as Alex Gordon and now that Gordon has arrived in Kansas City most Royals fans would tell you that he has not lived up to that hype. This is a totally different statement than if he has been a good player, or if he has satisfied the fans. I am a fan who is satisfied with Gordon’s production and expect him to continue to improve.
In an injury shortened 2008 Gordon saw a huge rise in his on base percentage from .314 to .351 on an obp starved team it will be critical that Gordon can maintain or even improve on his .351 from a season ago. Also, Gordon saw his slugging percentage rise from .411 to .432 this is still too low for my tastes and it is frustrating because at time it really does seem that Gordon could figure it out and become a masher in the middle of the order.
Gordon’s real problem though is his inability to hit left handed pitching last season he posted a line of .234/.312/.317 against lefties compared to .273/.370/.491 against righties. While some have suggested that the Royals should platoon Gordon in order to take advantage of the split, I would argue that it would be incredibly dumb of the Royals to doom Gordon to a career as a platoon player. It is most advantageous to the Royals that Gordon becomes an all star caliber player and this will only happen if he is facing both lefties and righties on a full time basis. If Gordon can somehow figure out lefties, he could finally begin to live up to that superstar potential.
Gordon also has another interesting split and that is for the second year Gordon’s post all star numbers were much better than his first half numbers. This, for the second straight year, has led Royals fans to believe that the second half is a sign of good things to come. Although, it could simply be that Gordon will be a J.D. Drew type who will always have a better second half than first. I’d like to think that it is a sign of things to come.
First Half: .253/.334/.407
Second Half: .277/.392/.496
So here is another if. IF Gordon can produce for a whole season like he did in the second half of last season, the Royals season could go in a completely different direction. Right now Pecota predicts the Royals to win 74 games this season. However, that does not take into consideration the potential breakout for players like Zack Greinke, Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, or to a lesser extent Kyle Davies. If just one of these guys breakout it could mean an additional 3-4 wins. If two or three breakout it could mean playing in October. I’ve got my fingers crossed for the latter.
If no one breaks out this season and a few of the guys underperform, it will mean that yet again the Royals will have finished in the cellar. This would be incredibly frustrating for Royals fans who are beginning to view this season as an opportunity to display all the improvement that this organization has undergone. However, even if the Royals have a disappointing season and only win 70 games or so, there is still a lot to be excited about. I’ve already told you about 2008 first round pick Eric Hosmer, now it is time to learn about the other half of the 70 home runs per year that some scouts project by 2011. That half goes by the name of Mike Moustakas.
Moustakas was the second overall pick of the 2007 draft and just before the rookie signing deadline signed a deal for a $4 million bonus. Moustakas was originally drafted as a short stop, however made the transition to third base midway through last season in Burlington, where he became the first teenager to lead the league in homers since Prince Fielder and led the Bees to a Midwest League Championship. He ended the season with 22 home runs, 71 rbis, 8 stolen bases, a .272 batting average, .337 on base percentage, and a .466 slugging percentage. This all after Moustakas got off to a horrific start where he hit .190 in the cold an Iowa April.
Moustakas who owns the California high school record for home runs in a season (24) and a career (52), was said to have had the best power in the draft since Alex Rodriguez. This is even more impressive considering Moustakas didn’t need to cheat to obtain it (just a joke… sort of). Moustakas is expected to begin 2009 in high class A Wilmington of the Carolina League (notorious for making average pitchers look like future aces, and future all stars look like banjo hitters).
