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Alex Gordon, Luke Hochevar, Frank White and John Mayberry were on the caravan this year. Mitch Meier was scheduled to be there as well, but was unable to make it due to travel issues. Gordon, Hochevar, and White met with the media at the hospital and you’ll be able to read what they had to say here over the next few days.
Here is the Q & A with Gordon:
Talk about the work you’ve been doing during the off-season.
Usually during the off-season I do a lot of infield work as far as ground balls and everything. But right now I’m just trying to keep my speed in shape and my arm strength healthy. I kind of learned from DeJesus – training with him the last couple of years – what he did as an outfielder. I just follow his work ethic and what he did.
What are your thoughts about the off-season moves—trading DeJesus, trading Greinke?
It’s always sad to see guys go who you know and who are good players you feel can help the team, but that’s part of the game and part of the business. I think they made some good trades and brought in some new guys who are going to help out. I think you are going to see that in Spring Training and we’ll see what they can do.
A lot of people seem to think the team is waiting for 2012—
Well, hopefully a lot of people are going to think that and hopefully we can surprise some people. I know people outside of here aren’t going to believe in us, but I know inside the clubhouse we’re going to have an attitude that we’re going to play hard; we’ll have a young clubhouse that’s going to go out there and compete and do anything they can to win. Hopefully that will grow on everybody.
Talk about the team signing Jeff Francoeur and Melky Cabrera.
I’ve known Jeff for a while and I know Dayton really wanted him over here because of his leadership and the kind of teammate he is, so it was good to get him in here. We know he has some great baseball ability and hopefully he can show it off here.
For the past couple of years, you haven’t been able to play start to finish.
Yeah, you know, the last couple of years have been disappointing to say the least – injuries, getting sent down, a position change – you’ve just got to stay positive and look ahead instead of looking in the past. I know in my mind it’s going to be a good year.
Your numbers have been down the past couple of years. Is that due to injuries and not being able to get into a rhythm?
It could be. I don’t want to sit here and try and blow excuses to you. But the numbers were down, so that’s what it is. I need to pick it up and rebound and help the team out better than I’ve done the last two years.
You’ve got to feel good though about the way you came down to Omaha last year to learn how to play the outfield. You took good routes to the ball, made some great throws and convinced people that you really were a legitimate outfielder.
The first couple of weeks (in Omaha) were definitely not like that. I was taking bad routes. I’ll be honest, it was tough to judge the ball off the bat and get the angles down. [And it probably didn’t help that] I was using a pitcher’s glove in the outfield because I didn’t have one. But playing every day and getting that repetition and just getting acclimated to the outfield helped. I think I got better every week. When I got called up I was feeling a lot more comfortable.
You worked with Kevin Seitzer during the off-season. Have you done that before?
Yeah, since he’s been the hitting coach. He stays in Kansas City and obviously I’m there so we always get started pretty early. This year was no different. We started around December 1. Lucas May has been coming with me too.
Have you changed anything significant about your hitting?
Yeah. I can’t tell you though [laughter]. I’ll let you guys find out in Spring Training. But yeah, we’ve been making some adjustments and I know it was something he wanted to do with me last season when I got called up, but to do it in the middle of the season, it’s kind of hard to change your ways. There are a couple of things we’re doing different and I think it feels good and it’s going to work.
How difficult is to make a change like that?
It is tough, but you’ve got to let the ego go. Seitzer knows what he’s talking about. He’s been there and he’s done it. You’ve just got to believe in other people sometimes and we believe in Seitzer. We believe in what he’s preaching.
One thing fans ask about is a quote attributed to you saying you were going to dominate. Were you just feeling it that day, or what?
What did you want me to say, I was going to do – ahhhhhhh okay? Okay, maybe dominate wasn’t the right word. A reporter came up to me when I was taking BP and asked me how I was going to do next year and was just kind of throwing that around – adrenaline [flowing] while taking BP and I was like, “I’m going to dominate.” I think it got blown out of proportion. I think I’m going to play a lot better than I did the last couple of years, but maybe people took “dominate” the wrong way. I didn’t want to say, “I’m going to do okay.” I didn’t really know it was an interview. He was just kind of asking me. And that’s just what I said.
Do you feel relaxed having the contract issue behind you? You always have to prove yourself though ...
When I sign my contract I don’t think my mindset changes at all. I was going in there to prove something. You know, the last couple of years, I think people are kind of giving up on me and hopefully I can do what I think I’m capable of doing.
At the same time, is there a you have to produce now type of mentality – not that that has never been the case with you.
Yeah, you’re in the big leagues. You got to. There’s young kids and we’ve got a lot of young kids coming now and they’re going to be nipping at your heels and you’ve got to do something to help the team.
You’ve admitted that you’ve heard the talk about you [not putting up good numbers]. If you put together a good year, how good is that going to feel?
You know, it’s going to feel great, but to be honest, I’ve been here for four years and I think I just want to win. And even if I have an okay year, and we’re winning, that’s fine with me. It’s going to make the season a lot better and everybody enjoy it a lot more.
What do you think about the minor league system? The talk is that it’s the best in baseball.
I’ve seen a couple of them – Hosmer and Moustakas – I haven’t seen some of the young arms, but just hearing about them, you can’t really ignore it. They’re coming up and I think Ned knows he’s hopefully going to build the team around some of those guys and hopefully they can help us – if not this year then hopefully in the next couple of years.
