Still a fresh 21 years old and a former 2014 first-round pick of the Twins (and son of Tom Gordon (MLB, 1993-2009, multiple teams), and brother of Dee Gordon, 2B, Marlins), Gordon is an average athlete with a sold build, but still needs to ad some strength to the frame. He was not at his best in my four-game look, going 4-for-21 in a homestand versus the Mississippi Braves, and striking out six times. He’s an offensive minded middle infielder, who can square up balls with a quick bat, and use the whole field with his line-drive oriented stroke. The swing is loose, with quick hands and some wrists, and some buggy whip action to it. While he’s hitting .296 versus righties, he has regressed this year versus left-handed pitching, hitting just .176, after posting slightly better splits last year versus LHP/RHP (.220/.315). The strikeout rate has also jumped to 22% from last year’s 19% at High A Fort Myers, and he needs to improve his two-strike approach and leverage his quick bat to generate more contact when down in the count.

In the field, he’s been primarily playing shortstop, and his fielding has been below average this year, with 21 errors and a .954 fielding percentage, following similar numbers last year (21 errors). He has the ability, but can sit back on balls and cause his throws to be rushed and lack accuracy. He’ll circle on balls with good first-step lateral quickness and the overall range projects as average. While he cold project to an average overall defender at shortstop, a move to second base, where he doesn’t have to wait on balls as much, would lead to improved fielding potential. His arm is average, and throwing from around the bag and throwing from angles can still use some development. On the bases, he has fringy speed at 4.28 seconds down the line, and he still needs to learn the nuances of base stealing to be able to grab a few bags.

Gordon still has youth on his side, and some patience is in order with his development, but the tools are there to become a Role 50 major league regular up the middle, with a floor of a Role 45 second-division player on some clubs.