Alex Gordon out up to four weeks

Per Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star, Royals third baseman Alex Gordon will miss the next 3-4 weeks after breaking his thumb yesterday.

“I’m pretty tired today,” Gordon said. “I didn’t get much sleep. Coming off the injury and now having this … sucks.”

Gordon broke the thumb sliding head-first in an attempt to steal second base and manager Trey Hillman said, “It’s a well-documented fact that more injuries on the basepaths happen from sliding head-first than any other way.”

The injury to Gordon will get some additional at-bats for Alberto Callaspo and Josh Fields.

“He’s a natural third baseman,” Hillman said (of Fields). “It really ups the ante of (Callaspo and Fields) getting the majority of the reps at third base. And Josh, we’ll take a look at him at first base. We’ll see where it goes.”

Gordon, who was the second overall pick in 2005, hasn't even begun to live up to the hype. But several sites have dubbed Gordon as a sleeper pick in fantasy baseball for 2010.

After working with hitting coach Kevin Seitzer to retool his swing, Royals Hall of Famer George Brett said, "He stays on the right plane a little longer, has more of a weight shift. I think he's moved a little off the plate. ...He's changed his swing considerably. Hopefully it will compute when the games start."

In his young career, Gordon has a batting average of only .230 and .232 in April and May, respectively.

This setback will obviously make it tough for him to get off to a strong start.