Alex Gordon walked into an indoor batting cage Monday inside Werner Park, wearing a blue hoodie and Nike tennis shoes. He stretched one foot on each side of home plate, a wide base for his first several warmup swings. They did not include any steps, the focus of the drill simply on timing the baseball’s arrival to the plate.
It’s all part of the meticulous preparation that has become synonymous with Gordon, even during an off day after the Royals’ exhibition game against the Class AAA Omaha Storm Chasers was canceled because of weather. He sticks to it so strictly that he says he is actually “not a huge opening day guy” because it disrupts the routine.