His career was a mixed bag for where he was drafted. Everybody thought he would be the next Brett. Didn't work out that way. He was a average to slightly less than average offensive player, excellent to great defensive player once moved to left field. 14 years, .257 career hitter. Only had more than 20 homers once, only hit .300 once. He struck out WAY too much: 1533 career Ks and 682 walks...including all the times he was hit by pitch, which was a bunch. Struck out more than 100 times in 10 of his 14 seasons. On defense, can't argue with his greatness, multiple gold gloves, and one platinum glove. Had the second most important homer in club history in 2015 WS game one. Played his whole career here. He was a good overall player, probably make the Royals HOF. Pretty much the same class as Sweeney. Hope he enjoys his life and retirement. [Reply]
Originally Posted by gblowfish:
His career was a mixed bag for where he was drafted. Everybody thought he would be the next Brett. Didn't work out that way. He was a average to slightly less than average offensive player, excellent to great defensive player once moved to left field. 14 years, .257 career hitter. Only had more than 20 homers once, only hit .300 once. He struck out WAY too much: 1533 career Ks and 682 walks...including all the times he was hit by pitch, which was a bunch. Struck out more than 100 times in 10 of his 14 seasons. On defense, can't argue with his greatness, multiple gold gloves, and one platinum glove. Had the second most important homer in club history in 2015 WS game one. Played his whole career here. He was a good overall player, probably make the Royals HOF. Pretty much the same class as Sweeney. Hope he enjoys his life and retirement.
Pretty much how I feel. I’ll always be thankful for the playoff performance though.
But ultimately, his career ended up being below Johnny Damon’s. Another (next George Brett) [Reply]
He'll be remembered for the Game 1 homer for obvious reasons. Saved the day against a dominant closer that literally hadn't blown a save in months.
That said, he was a huge part of the 2014 team getting to the playoffs. The team was hanging around .500 at the end of July then got super hot in August to put themselves in playoff position. Gordon caught fire that month and hit like 9 homers in August and was a huge reason that team made the push. [Reply]