Nick Gordon Is Quietly Filling the Royce Lewis Void

[Nick Nelson]

When Royce Lewis emerged on the big-league scene with a dazzling debut back in May, fans were captivated by the promise of a dynamic former first-round pick making a big impact with his speed, versatility, and power.

It turns out we've gotten that since. Just not from the source we expected.

Stepping in for an injured Carlos Correa back in May, Royce Lewis was brilliant, slashing .300/.317/.550 in 11 games while filling in at shortstop. Upon Correa's healthy return, the Twins made the logical decision to option Lewis to the minors. This raised a great deal of consternation among fans who wanted to see the electric rookie stick around. 

At the time, I tweeted out a question: If you wanted Lewis to stay, who was getting bumped from the roster to make room for Correa? I was stunned by the number of responders casually casting their votes for Nick Gordon – even with the understanding he is out of options and would thus be lost from the organization.

It's true that Gordon had worn off much of his prospect shine in the eight years since being drafted No. 5 overall. And it's true he was unspectacular as a rookie in 2021, albeit while training in as a utilityman on the fly. But he's also a 26-year-old whose development was derailed by physical issues, and who'd shown some genuinely positive signs in his checkered MLB play.

Looking back, calls for waiving Gordon to keep Lewis illustrate the danger of short-sighted, emotional thinking. Had they done so, only to have Lewis suffer a season-ending knee injury, they'd now be without both. 

And that would really suck because, as it turns out, Gordon has basically turned into exactly the player we wanted Lewis to be. 

In 34 games since May 18th, the date of Lewis' demotion, Gordon is slashing .289/.330/.505 with five doubles, two triples, and four home runs. He has played all over the field: center, left, second base, even a little shortstop. His speed and range have been highly valuable in the outfield. His undisciplined and aggressive approach at the plate (22 K, 3 BB) is paying off with a bunch of power and consistent productivity.

If Lewis had stayed healthy and produced the following Statcast measurables over the past five weeks, I think we'd have all been pretty much over the moon: 

This is not to say it doesn't suck Lewis is gone. But it's a very good thing Gordon is still here, and to his deep credit, he is helping fill the void of expectations set (perhaps optimistically) for Lewis as a free-swinging, speedy 800-OPS utilityman who makes contributions from all over the field.

If he were a little better defensively at short, I'd almost say Gordon is building a case to serve as interim fill-in while Lewis rehabs in early 2023, but I think that's a stretch. Even so, the late-blooming first-rounder and top prospect is finally fortifying his fit with the organization that drafted him. And it's a beautiful thing to see.

 

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[TouchEmAllGuy]

Glad he's on our team!

[USAFChief]

I'm not at all convinced his bat will continue to be playable, but happy to concur I've been wrong so far. 

[wsnydes]

He's one of those unsung role players that don't get noticed.  And that's kind of a good thing, in a sense.  He can fill in reasonably well at many positions and be good enough with the bat.  He won't push a starter for playing time, but he's good enough to give one a day off.  Those kinds of players are important to a good team over the course of a long season.  

And considering everything he went through coming up through the minors, I'm happy to see him perform.  Even in the bit role that he has.

[Dman]

It was the lack of power and the low OPS that had people down on him.  Given his build, power didn't look like something that was going to come easy for Gordon so yeah I can understand why a lot of us were down on him.  He didn't pass the eye or stats test IMO.  

I think the thing that kept him on the team with his mainly sub 700 OPS was his speed and ability to play infield and outfield quite well.  If this power trend is something that sticks he will be a very valuable player. 

There is going to be a lot of competition for these spots with Lewis and Steer and Jullien and others possibly needing Rule V protection. So he needs to keep preforming well.  With the low walk rate his OBP is always going to suffer so he has his weaknesses.  If I was pitching to him I would just keep my stuff out of the zone and let him get himself out.  

Still that is a very good month with the bat and he has to do it not knowing when or where he is going to play which is not easy to do either.  I hope he keeps it up as he is one of the few guys who has above average speed on this team.  I am rooting for him but he is going to need to sustain that type of performance if he wants to stay with the Twins. He hasn't proven he can have more than a few good months per year so far in his career. July\August should put the numbers in greater perspective.

[DJL44]

He has been a good bench player. He's mediocre at the plate and in the field but a mediocre big leaguer is a pretty useful player. His baserunning is useful late and close as a pinch runner.

[mikelink45]

I am delighted to see him get some positive coverage. He has really stepped up for us  

Whether he is bumped by Lewis or Steer in the future he has shown he belongs in the majors.  

[Rosterman]

He is that GREAT 26th player. Can he fill in fulltime at shortstop for a stint, that is the question.

 

Who is this Tim Beckham tearing up AAA ball, by the way?

[Doctor Gast]

IMO Lewis is totally diferent than Gordon but that's not to say Gordon doesn't have value, IMO he has a lot of value. Lewis is a much better SS but Gordon as #4 should keep Polanco at 2B. Although Lewis could be a very capable CF he should not have cosidered there because of previous injury. To keep Lewis's bat in the line up he should have been put strictly in the INF. So the one who benifitted the most from Lewis's absence is Miranda. Although Miranda is starting to blossum as a MLB hitter. It would have been more prudent to groom Palacios in the MLB because his glove is much more needed.

I've been impressed with Gordon, when thrown into CF to learn on the fly.  He has learned very quickly and his hitting has steadily improved with each AB. The depth he adds to so many position IMO makes Gordon very valuable.

[2wins87]

I don't think he's filling, or will fill, the role that Lewis will hopefully play.

His role is super utility, and he's a quite good in that role.  Personally I've liked what I've seen from him at the MLB level pretty much the whole time.  While not what was originally envisioned, it's not actually even a particularly bad outcome for a former #5 overall pick.

His aggressive approach keeps him from being a regular, but he's got the bat speed to hit major league fastballs and the hands to hit major league breaking balls.  He's a bottom of the order guy that pitchers can't just take for granted.

[2wins87]

21 minutes ago, Rosterman said:

Who is this Tim Beckham tearing up AAA ball, by the way?

Former #1 overall pick who had an ok stint with the Rays before bouncing around a bit.  He is now 32 and hasn't played in the majors since 2019.

He's emergency SS depth.

[chpettit19]

I don't know that I like comparing him and Lewis, but Gordon has shown he's a very useful player on a big league roster. With everyone running 13 man pitching staffs it makes guys with Gordon's versatility even more important. He's a big league player even if he may not ever be a big league regular. Having a guy who can play just about anywhere defensively and not totally kill you is very useful. I'd keep him over a Garlick type. 

I don't know how long Gordon sticks with the Twins, but I think he has a big league job until he starts losing his speed. He's not as fast as his brother, but his speed is still important to allowing him to play the outfield as he can make up for some slower reads with some closing speed. My guess would be the Twins hold onto him until he starts getting into his 2nd and 3rd years of arbitration when I'm not sure they'll see him as worth the money. He probably has a nice career as a journeyman utility guy ahead of him. Not a bad life.

[Trov]

I have said this about Nick Gordon for a long time.  He has a slow learning curve at the plate at each level, but give him time he always starts to produce.  If you look at his first bit of time at every level he does poor, and we talk about how he was a bust.  Then he bounces back and we think he figured it out.  

Look at his first season in AA he hit .270/.341/.409, then he started the next year in AA where he slashed, .333/.381/.525, then got called up to AAA where he slashed .212/.262/.283 in 93 games, looked like a bust.  Then he repeated AAA in 2019 at age 23 where he slashed .298/.342/.459.  Then in 2021 after year off and COVID issues, In AAA he slashed ..282/.338/.437, with an MLB slash of .240/.292/.355.  This year he is slashing .271/.311/.418, but as article pointed out he is doing even better over last month. 

For whatever reason he has always been slow to adapt to each level, but given time he picks up his numbers.  I have long advocated to giving him a chance to prove himself. He will never be a big HR guy, but he is not just a single guy either.  He could be better, but he is a MLB player.  

[jjswol]

A good team player but will not be a starter on a playoff team. But let's be honest here, I have higher expectations for a number one pick fifth overall. 

 

[Muppet]

Many times in the past couple of years I had hoped that he'd get traded to a team that will play him more, appreciate him, and let him develop. He seems to have always been a bit of an afterthought here. I would imagine he'd get a few extra years playing MLB if he played somewhere else. This guy is a gamer. He's always one of the first to slap someone's hand when they score that tight run. He's always full of energy in the bench. He'd probably be more likely to get a hit with two outs and a runner on second than half the team. But everyone has always been quick to find reasons to hate on him. 

[ashbury]

In those most recent 34 games he has 4 homers, which is a very nice rate if sustained over a full season.  Since a lot of his OPS in that period is built on those 4 long flies, plus a BABIP that is little high relative to league average, I remain a bit on the skeptical side going forward, but continue to be impressed with what he's accomplished this year.  My estimate on watching him in a game at AAA in 2019 was way short of what his ceiling has turned out to be.

[Nick Nelson]

1 hour ago, jjswol said:

A good team player but will not be a starter on a playoff team. But let's be honest here, I have higher expectations for a number one pick fifth overall. 

 

The two players taken first and second overall in that draft (Brady Aiken and Tyler Kolek) never even reached the majors. So, could be worse! 

[Nick Nelson]

1 hour ago, chpettit19 said:

I don't know that I like comparing him and Lewis, but Gordon has shown he's a very useful player on a big league roster.

To be clear, I'm not necessarily saying he's a similar player to Lewis, or nearly as talented. But the slash line he's put up since Lewis went down, and the makeup of Gordon's Statcast profile, are almost exactly what we'd optimistically like to have seen from Lewis. 

[Game7-91]

Great discussion, agree with Nick the comps between the 2 are amazing and unexpected. Gordon is our utility guy for the forseesble future- he'd proving his value is in versatility and productivity every day. Since rosters expanded players with his profile are much more valuable, and I am really happy he's on the good guys team. 

[Shaitan]

I think it's way too early to be praising Lewis for his versatility.

As others have said too, I don't think Gordon is comparable to Lewis. Other than the internet decided that Lewis could be a superutility player for a year while waiting for SS to open. And then Lewis got hurt, immediately, while playingan unfamiliar position.

Gordon's role is closer to what Marwin or Adrianza served.

[Trov]

11 minutes ago, Nick Nelson said:

The two players taken first and second overall in that draft (Brady Aiken and Tyler Kolek) never even reached the majors. So, could be worse! 

There was also a few taken just after him that never made majors.  Of course we wish we could have went back and took Turner, but a lot of teams passed on Turner too being drafted 13th, but he was the next SS taken.  I remember wanting him, but some scouts thought he would move to 2nd.  Which he did for a time but back at SS again. 

[Yoke]

I think he’s great for what his role is as a utility fielder. If you can get 3 or 4 years out of him in this role, that’s really solid. Obviously not ideal for a 5th overall pick, but you could do worse than what you’re getting out of him.

 

I don’t think he ever takes anyones starting spot, but he’s going to get in a lot of games at a lot of spots going forward.

[adorduan]

2 hours ago, DJL44 said:

He has been a good bench player. He's mediocre at the plate and in the field but a mediocre big leaguer is a pretty useful player. His baserunning is useful late and close as a pinch runner.

His OPS is higher than Kepler, Polanco, Urshela, Sanchez, Larnach and Miranda. If he could learn to walk more, he would be a VERY useful player.

[2wins87]

1 hour ago, jjswol said:

A good team player but will not be a starter on a playoff team. But let's be honest here, I have higher expectations for a number one pick fifth overall. 

 

Here are the 10 #5 overall picks taken in the years before Gordon:

2013 - Jackson Frazier

2012 - Kyle Zimmer

2011 - Bubba Starling

2010 - Drew Pomeranz

2009 - Matt Hobgood

2008 - Buster Posey

2007 - Matt Wieters

2006 - Brandon Morrow

2005 - Ryan Braun

2004 - Mark Rogers

So 2 star players, 3 solid regulars, 2 replacement level role players, and 2 guys with brief MLB careers, and 1 guy who didn't even make the majors.

If Gordon has a career as an above replacement level role player that will be right around the median for the slot or a bit above it.  The MLB draft is the biggest crapshoot in sports.  The Buster Poseys are actually the outliers for a #5 pick.

[bean5302]

The (mean) average career WAR for a #5 pick is about 11ish with about 25% of first rounders never even making the big show.
https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-sports-analytics/jsa200586

Gordon is such a hot topic because he's been so written off, and then he's struggled off and on. It seems like today, this minute, he's accepted as a good 26th man. I suppose that is a big step forward among this fanbase considering Gordon had a few vocal supporters with a lot of detractors wondering why Gordon should even be getting plate appearances going into last year.

I also believe Gordon is going to have to take more walks. Going the Eddie Rosario route with plate discipline leads to a lot of feast and famine at the plate. He could get lucky and finish strong or he could slump hard and find himself on the edges of MiLB contracts.

In any case, Gordon was slow to adapt to each level of play, but he always adapted. It seems like the MLB level is just the same. Gordon is slowly getting better and better. He's sitting at a wRC+ 108 on the season and I don't feel like he's necessarily reached his absolute ceiling, but it's really hard to believe he can keep up the growth.

Since the start of June, he owns a .302/.362/.524 OPS .886 wRC+ 154 slash line with the help of a .348 BABIP which I don't think is sustainable, though the underlying metrics... aren't at all out of whack. Gordon has averaged an exit velocity of a near elite 92.6mph (max 110.7mph) over the span. His barrel rate of 20.4% and ridiculous hard hit rate of 59.2% coincide with a near optimal 15.6* launch angle. The line drive rate has been excellent at 24.5% with a relatively low 36.7% ground ball rate.

The big issue, to me, appears to be the fact he's swinging at 45% of pitches outside the zone, but crushing them nonetheless. It's resulted in his performance being positive against every single off-speed and breaking pitch over that span and he's been destroying changeups and curveballs. I just don't feel like that's sustainable. Nor is the 82.6% first pitch strike situation he's gotten himself into.

Fun to watch though.

[RpR]

Which is worse, swinging at a first pitch, or standing and watching a first pitch burn down middle of the strike zone?

[jimbo92107]

Nick Gordon is a gradual learner and a late bloomer. Some of that is due to physical ailments, which are now behind him. As a player, we initially expected Lewis to be an All-Star level shortstop. Then, injuries and sickness derailed his career for a few years, to the point where most of us figured he was just another Twins first round flop. 

Then a funny thing happened: The flop woke up. He made the team, and somehow stayed on the roster. Then he got a little better the next season, and a little better after that...

Now he's being compared to Royce Lewis, whom most of us think is a potential superstar. Like Gordon, Lewis's early career is on hold due to an injury. Like Gordon, Lewis will need to heal and rebuild himself into the superior athlete he is. 

Gordon's "ceiling" may not be as high as Lewis's. However, Gordon today is a valuable member of this team, a super-sub with a respectable bat. Thing is, I expect Gordon to continue improving gradually. I expect him to get a little choosier at the plate, because he does keep working to improve. Don't be terribly surprised if his K's go down about 20 percent while his BB's go up about 20 percent between now and September. Gordon does keep getting better.

[MGM4706]

He has had a long "Trial Period". A few OK weeks does not erase that history. He, like most Twin Outfielders still has "No Clue" on how to play a fence. So a comparison to Lewis is Apples to Oranges!

[nicksaviking]

He’s stepped up and made many of us second guess our initial thoughts.

But to be fair to those of us who were willing to sacrifice Gordon for Lewis, using that May 18th date in the OP, Lewis only had THREE xbh at the time. He looked like another slap hitter. It shouldn’t have been that stunning of an idea. I’d be quite confident it crossed the minds of those in charge.

[puckstopper1]

Gordan has been nice to have and should be a decent contributor going forward unless the Twins do something stupid like replace him (or Miranda or Kirilloff) with Sano.  ?