Dee Gordon and the Farm League

Fixing MLB's Access Crisis

Dee Strange-Gordon—AKA Dee Gordon—burst onto the Major League Baseball scene with speed and athletic chaos. His game was a blur, he was a perpetual stolen base threat who turned singles into doubles and kept opposing pitchers nervous. His first appearance came in 2011 and it was for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a pinch runner. He scored a run.

Those traits, however, are now less appreciated than they once were in baseball. This is a more analytically driven game, and thus following the 2014 season, Gordon became one of Andrew Friedman’s first major trades as the Dodgers’ President of Baseball Operations. Friedman values outs quite highly, and steals too often lead to outs. So, a foundational move involving Gordon was made, signaling the team’s new direction.

But Gordon is still in baseball. He isn’t in major league stadiums, but rather he’s on the fields of Florida at The Farm League. Founded by Strange-Gordon and Calvin Rucker, this non-profit exists to solve a critical issue in baseball development: access.

Gordon and the other Farm League Founders. Photo Courtesy of The Farm League

Access for more on The Farm League is here in the form of the below paywall.