Alex Gordon redux

Towards the beginning of the season I wrote an article on Alex Gordon.  I meant to do more of these player profiles (I also did one on Michael Pineda and one on Jake Fox) but finals kinda got in the way and then I started my internship.  Here is the original article.

Clearly (as Ray pointed out at the time) my initial projections on Gordon were aggressive.  I knew this at the time, but figured if he hit those numbers I would look like a genius.  The projections pro-rated to this point in the season (62.3%) would have him at 15 HRs, 12 steals, 62 Runs, 62 RBIs and a .310/.350/.530 line.  His actual numbers are 11 HRs, 8 steals, 54 Runs and 52 RBIs with a .299/.367/.471 line.  He's actually out performing the OBP that I predicted but is not quite slugging what I thought he might.  He currently has 26 doubles, I had hoped that some of these would turn into HRs but hey, I'll take the doubles too.  If not for a few missed games here and there Gordon's counting stats would be even higher, and his move to the leadoff spot have kept down his RBIs.  Overall I Gordon has proved to be a very valuable commodity this year and should be a solid play for the next few years as well.  He is being miscast as a leadoff hitter, but if he can move towards the heart of the order next year he may be able to step up his production a bit.