No, Alex Gordon is not being demoted. He'll get at-bats in minor-league games though

Royals manager Ned Yost sat behind his desk at the team’s spring-training complex on Wednesday afternoon and huffed.

Some 18 hours earlier, rumors had bubbled up on social media suggesting that outfielder Alex Gordon might start the season in the minor leagues. They were derived from an in-game interview Yost gave on Fox Sports Kansas City during Tuesday’s 10-1 win over the Giants, in which Yost said Gordon could benefit from minor-league action to break out of his current 0 for 33 slump.

But Yost never said Gordon, who has struck out 15 times since his last hit on March 3, faced a demotion.

“We do it all the time,” Yost said. “We got Kelvin Herrera and Brad Keller throwing in a minor-league game today. Does that mean we’re throwing them out too?”

The plan is for Gordon to spend an afternoon wandering the backfields at the Royals’ complex, logging as many at-bats in minor-league games as he can. Somewhere between 12 and 14 at-bats in one day, Yost said, would go a long way in helping Gordon rediscover his timing at the plate.

Depending on how he feels after playing the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night, Gordon could skip Thursday’s road game against the Brewers to get reps in minor-league camp.

“You’re constantly getting at-bats and feeling and getting your comfort and getting timing,” Yost said. “A couple of days of that could help him pretty dramatically.”

This story was originally published March 21, 2018 at 4:32 PM with the headline "No, Alex Gordon is not being demoted. He'll get at-bats in minor-league games though."