Last year was a strange one for Alex Gordon. He had a wrist injury that held him out of play for over a month, and even when he was healthy, his strikeout rate was way higher than it had been in the past. This spring, though, the Kansas City Royals have put him back near the top of the order, and it could lead to his being a value early on.

Gordon returned from the wrist injury on June 25th, and from that day on, his batted-ball numbers were superbly interesting. His hard-hit rate jumped to 40.0% over his final 340 plate appearances, coupling with his 36.1% fly-ball rate to make him look like a legit power threat. The strikeouts were still present, but in the pursuit of pop, Gordon may be a bit under-appreciated at the moment.

Gordon and the Royals will open up against the aforementioned Twins, who finished 2016 with an American League-worst 5.09 staff ERA. They made some improvements there by adding the defensive exploits of catcher Jason Castro, but after Ervin Santana, this rotation drops off big time. Gordon could be in for a big rebound season, and there are few better ways to kick it off than against this opponent at an acceptable price.