Gordon named top Minor Leaguer

CLEVELAND -- The awards continue to roll in for Royals prospect Alex Gordon.

Gordon, the Royals' first-round pick and the No. 2 overall selection in the 2005 First-Year Player Draft, was named Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year on Tuesday. He is the first player to follow up a Baseball America College Player of the Year Award with the Minor League honor in consecutive seasons.

The third baseman was named Royals Minor League Player of the Year and Texas League Player of the Year. At Double-A Wichita, he hit .325 with 39 doubles, 29 home runs and 100 RBIs. Gordon, 22, ranked second among all Minor Leaguers in total bases (286) and fourth in runs scored (111). He was tied for fourth in slugging percentage (.588) while finishing among the Minor League leaders in home runs (tied for eighth) and RBIs (tied for 10th).

Royals manager Buddy Bell got a good look at Gordon in Spring Training.

"He probably had a better spring than anybody," he said. "He's a good looking player. It's hard to say what anybody will be like until you see him play up here, but we're excited to have him."

Gordon, a left-handed hitter, made his mark in the second half of the season when he helped the Wranglers to the Texas League Championship Series. Following the All-Star Game in mid-June, he hit .346 with 20 home runs, 20 doubles, 70 RBIs and 65 runs scored in 67 games.

Last season, following an outstanding career at the University of Nebraska, Gordon also earned the Golden Spikes Award, the Dick Howser Award, the Brooks Wallace Award and the ABCA Rawlings Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-1, 220-pound native of Lincoln, Neb., joins Tom Gordon (1988) as the only Royals farmhands to earn Baseball America's Player of the Year Award since it debuted in 1981. Other notable players who have won the award are Frank Thomas (1990), Manny Ramirez (1993), Derek Jeter (1994), Andruw Jones (1995-96), Eric Chavez (1998), Josh Beckett (2001) and Joe Mauer (2003). Royals pitcher Zack Greinke won The Sporting News Minor League Player of the Year in 2003, narrowly missing out to Mauer for the Baseball America honor.

Gordon, as well as all of the club's Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year selections from each affiliate, will attend Royals Futures Day at Kauffman Stadium on Sept. 22, where they will be presented with their awards on the field in a pregame ceremony at 7:45 p.m ET.

Luke Hochevar, the Royals' first pick in the 2006 First-Year Player Draft, also will be attending. During their visit to Kansas City, the Minor Leaguers also will make a trip to the Negro Leagues Museum at 10 a.m., followed by lunch at George Brett's on the Plaza. They will also be taking time to visit children at Children's Mercy Hospital at 1 p.m. and will be available to sign autographs at Kauffman Stadium from 5:30 to 6 p.m.