Dee Gordon, Los Angeles Dodgers

Devaris Strange-Gordon changed his first name to Dee because announcers couldn't pronounce it, and he dreams of making a name for himself -- literally -- so he will have the pull to get his full name on his jersey. In the meantime, however, this speedy Gonzales of a player can't stop smiling.

A rug rat who grew up following his father Tom Gordon around the majors, Dee Gordon is no stranger to the bigs, and he moves fast. He was drafted in the fourth round of 2008 out of Southeastern University and then Seminole Community College, Florida. He started with the Ogden Raptors in 2008 (.331), and batted .301 and stole 73 bases with the Great Lake Loons in 2009, where he made MVP of the Midwest League and Prospect of the Year for the Dodgers. In 2010, he moved up to AA in Chattanooga and batted .277 with 53 stolen bases, where he had to turn down being the Lookouts' Southern League All-Star player because he was also selected for the All-Star Futures game. The one knock on him was 37 errors. In 2011, he started with the AAA Isotopes. He debuted in the majors in Philadelphia on June 6 as a pinch-runner, then started his first game on June 7.

His father was on hand for his June 6 debut, where he motored around 1st to 3rd and brought in a run, and for his June 7 start, where he went 3 for 5 with a steal and run scored. I saw one well-fielded ground ball and one not-so-well played force out at 2nd that probably should've been a double play. It's a start.

[Update Jul 17, 2011] During his first month with the team, Dee showed good defense (with a few rookie wobbles and flashes of brilliance) and phenomenal speed. His batting average dropped: he was hitting .232 by the time he got sent down. He had 6 steals in 11 tries and had played 22 games. So far, so good, although his bat will need to improve.

Trivia note: Tony Gwynn Sr. and "Flash" Gordon threw out the ceremonial first pitches to their sons on Father's Day at Dodger Stadium.