Jewish Hurler Gordon Debuts for Houston Astros

Clematis Pizza is situated on the busiest street of downtown West Palm Beach, Fla., the spring training home of the Houston Astros. The establishment that bills itself as “Your Neighborhood Italian Kitchen” is a popular lunch destination for many members of the Astros organization, whether it be veteran big leaguers in February and March or rehabbing minor-leaguers year-round. But for rookie pitcher Colton Gordon in 2021, the pizzeria wasn’t just a fun hang-out spot to grab a couple slices of pizza — it was an employment opportunity.

A month before the Astros selected the St. Petersburg, Fla., native in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft, Gordon underwent Tommy John surgery. He arrived in West Palm Beach staring down months of monotonous and lonely rehab with little fanfare and low pay. In need of cash and something to keep him from constantly ruminating about his uncertain professional baseball future, Gordon walked into Clematis Pizza and applied for a job delivering pizzas.

With a sturdy Ford F-150 and daily rehab schedule that wrapped around noon, Gordon was a perfect candidate for the temporary gig and for the next several months supplemented his minor-league salary by cruising around West Palm Beach dropping off pizzas and subs at homes and businesses. For good measure, there were many days when he could sneak in a pre-shift nap after his conditioning exercises while at the end of most nights the pizzeria was good enough to allow Gordon to take home some slices and grinders free of charge.

But this spring, four years after delivering pizzas to customers, Gordon is now delivering pitches to big-league batters after getting called up for his MLB debut on May 14 against the Kansas City Royals and pitching well enough in his ensuing starts to secure at least a temporary spot in the Astros’ injury-ravaged pitching rotation. Though his current stat line (1-1, a 5.11 ERA across five starts) may seem underwhelming, the tall southpaw’s latest outing, June 6 against the defending American League Central champion Cleveland Guardians, was his best.

Benefiting from Houston’s excellent outfield defense and Cleveland’s reckless baserunning, Gordon earned his first big-league win by firing five innings of one-run ball. He didn’t allow a runner to get past first base until the fifth inning and even had five strikeouts, a rarity for the crafty lefty whose assortment of off-speed offerings don’t typically miss many bats.

“I think everything I’ve been talking about the past couple of weeks was better this week overall,” said Gordon afterwards. “And obviously, my first major-league win. It was awesome. It’s what you want to do every time is win. Good start.”

Gordon’s new teammates and manager Joe Espada have been impressed with the poise he’s demonstrated in the early going — even though most of his starts haven’t exactly gone swimmingly. After needing 48 pitches to get the first six outs during his first start against Kansas City, Gordon, who’s already garnered a reputation for working exceptionally quickly, settled down to last until the fifth inning to provide some relief for an overly taxed Houston pitching staff. The debut performance, three earned runs on 85 pitches, was solid enough to get Houston a 4-3 win and score another start five days later against the Tampa Bay Rays.

“(Gordon) looked confident,” commented Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña, who used to occupy the left side of the Astros’ infield with Alex Bregman, now with the Boston Red Sox, after the rookie’s first major-league outing. “He was attacking guys, and I love to see that. He had no fear whatsoever. He did not look one bit nervous.”

This spring may be Gordon’s first regular season big-league action, but it’s not the first time he’s pitched in big-league ballparks. Just two years ago, Gordon pitched for Team Israel against Team Puerto Rico during the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) at LoanDepot Park, home of the Miami Marlins. Though he yielded four runs in just an inning of work as a starter, Gordon went up against well-established veterans Francisco Lindor, Javier Báez, and Kiké Hernandez in front of a thunderous sold-out crowd, mostly rooting against him. Surely, it was a more high-octane environment than a regular-season game in a traditional Major League Baseball setting.

He was attacking guys, and I love to see that. He had no fear whatsoever. He did not look one bit nervous.

“That matters,” Espada told reporters last month. “I’m telling you. I’ve been in two WBCs. It matters.”

When the Astros selected Gordon during their 2021 NL pennant-winning season, which of course ended by coming up short in the World Series against the Atlanta Braves, they knew they were taking a risk. The 6’4” left-hander was coming off surgery following a significant elbow injury during his redshirt sophomore season at the University of Central Florida, the third school of his four-year college career. But the Houston front office was able to look past that concern and was enticed by the unique profile — even though he personifies a crafty lefty with his mix of sinkers, sliders, curveballs, and changeups, Gordon is not afraid to challenge right-handed batters with a still-effective fastball that can reach the mid-nineties.

“The thing that excited me the most was his (Gordon’s) ability to pitch with the fastball,” Houston’s general manager Dana Brown, formerly of the Braves, told the team’s pregame radio show last month. “He’s got the crossfire because he (pitches) across his body, it adds a little deception. He was able to pound that fastball in. I’m hoping he can use the fastball a little bit more.”

Meanwhile, Steve Gordon, while sitting in the stands of Daikin Park during his son’s first MLB outing on May 14, provided a less technical perspective when he did a brief in-game interview with the Astros’ flagship television station: “It’s just been terrific because we started playing baseball when he was two, rolling the ball and throwing, and all through Little League and travel ball and high school and then college and then the Astros. It’s been really a great journey. It’s so much fun. I encourage every parent who has a kid with talent to really spend the time to help that kid achieve their full potential — whether it’s a boy or girl in softball or baseball. I worked really hard with Colton to make sure that he had everything he needed to be as good as he is.”

Going into Father’s Day weekend, Gordon appears likely to stay up in Houston and make Steve proud. And if he can keep giving the surging first-place Astros effective innings throughout the summer and stay in the rotation, there may be an opportunity to see the 26-year-old Jewish pitcher in person when the Astros come to Truist Park the weekend of Sept. 12-14.