Brian Ernest Gordon (born August 16, 1978, in West Point, New York) is a Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers organization.

He was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 7th round of the 1997 Major League Baseball Draft was an outfielder. With the Diamondbacks organization, he made it as high as Triple-A Tucson in 2003 and became a free agent after the season. Gordon signed with the Anaheim Angels where he played in the next two years with their Triple-A affiliate, Salt Lake Stingers. After the 2005 season, Gordon signed with the Houston Astros organization. Playing the entire year in Triple-A, he batted only .241, and after the season decided to convert to pitcher^[1] with the help of Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan, who was a special assistant to the Astros.^[2]

Gordon began 2007 with the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. In 30 relief appearances, he had an ERA of 2.88 and received a promotion to Triple-A Round Rock. In 2008, Gordon started the season with Double-A Corpus Christi, but after just one appearance, he was released. He signed with the Texas Rangers and did not allow a run in 22 innings pitched for Double-A Frisco. He was promoted to Triple-A Oklahoma where he started and pitched in relief.

He was a September call up for the Rangers in 2008 and made his major league debut on September 17.

Gordon attended Venezuelan Winter League for the 2008-2009 season with Tiburones de la Guaira, becoming a Tiburones fans' favourite posting 4-2 with 1.79 ERA on 45.1 innings. In his last home game before returning to the US, Gordon faced hard rivals Leones del Caracas in front of a crowd of 20000, posting 8 innings with 1 allowed run and 9 strikeouts. After the game ended, all la Guaira fans shouted Brian's last name, with Gordon walking out of the dugout and kissing the team's shirt in one of La Guaira's most emotive moments of the season.

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[edit] External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube