Gordon Honored by Collegiate Baseball

Lincoln ? University of Nebraska third basemanAlex Gordon (Lincoln, Neb.) received a prestigious honor this week, as he was chosen as the National Preseason Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball magazine. Gordon’s selection highlights the preseason all-America team released by the publication for its Jan. 1 issue.

“It’s a nice honor for Alex and the program to be recognized, but if you know Alex, preseason stuff does not mean a lot and he is well aware of that,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. “His purpose is to go out and improve, not only for himself, but also for this team this season.”

Gordon returns after earning unanimous first team All-America honors in 2004, hitting .365 with 18 homers and 75 RBIs during the 2004 season. The Big 12 Player of the Year, Gordon led the conference in on-base percentage (.493), slugging percentage (.754), walks (47), triples (five) and runs scored (64), while ranking in the top 10 in homers, total bases (159), RBIs (75) and doubles (18). The Lincoln native started all 59 games and played in 520 of 524 innings in the field, including every inning during league play, to help Nebraska set a team record with a .975 fielding percentage.

Over the summer, Gordon, who is projected by Baseball America as the top collegiate prospect for the 2005 Major League Baseball Draft, played for Team USA, hitting .388 with four homers, 12 RBIs and 18 runs scored in 24 games, as Team USA won the World University Baseball Championship. He is considered one of the top prospects in next June’s Major League Baseball Draft.

Nebraska was ranked 31st in the magazine’s preseason issue, joining Texas (1), Texas A&M (10), Oklahoma State (23) and Baylor (25) to give the Big 12 five teams in the top 40 in the magazine’s preseason issue.