Stop worrying, love Alex Gordon
Alex Gordon’s seasonal stats don’t have a lot to say. He’s been below the league average in OPS+ for three straight years. He’s hit 11 home runs, he’s stolen 12 bases. A .244/.327/.365 slash doesn’t get you in our fantasy conversations. At age 34, he’s close to the end of his career.
But this late in the fantasy season, I’m done playing for the big inning. Now it’s all about getting the specific stuff that you need. And Gordon has turned into a player who can help us.
Gordon has batted second or third for the Royals since the beginning of August, and coincidentally or not, his play has spiked. Over the last month Gordon has a .266/.347/.440 slash, with three homers and eight stolen bases. Imagine that. Alex Gordon, running like he’s Dee Gordon.
Alex the G is also producing a ton of runs — 17 scored, 18 driven in for that period. The Royals offense has been a hidden gem in the second half of the year. Whit Merrifield, Kid Mondesi, Ryan O’Hearn and Gordon are all Top 50 5×5 earners over the last 30 days. Rock the Royals.
Gordon will probably bat third the rest of the way, behind the surging Merrfield and Mondesi. Location, location, location. Although there has been a mild uptick in Gordon’s ownership rate, he’s still unclaimed in 87 percent of Yahoo leagues. O’Hearn’s tag is similar. Even Mondesi is gettable in some thinner leagues.
Do what you need to do. We don’t care about names or spring-training price tags. We just want the numbers. Go get those numbers.
