Following a broken thumb suffered in Spring Training, Gordon began the 2010 season on a minor league rehab assignment with Class-A Advanced Wilmington. Gordon was activated from the disabled list on April 17. He was demoted to the minor leagues in May, where he played left field. Gordon had been hitting .194 before his demotion, and many considered this demotion to indicate that Gordon was running out of chances with the Royals. Rusty Kuntz, a coach in the Royals' organization stated that "If he can catch a fly ball in this mess, he’s going to be OK." While playing for Omaha, Gordon was named to the Pacific Coast League's All-Star team. Gordon was recalled from Triple-A on July 23, 2010, to take the place of David DeJesus in the Royals' outfield; DeJesus had been placed on the disabled list with a right thumb sprain. On July 30, Gordon hit his first career walk-off home run in a game against the Baltimore Orioles. Gordon hit .264 in the month of August, but then slumped to a .177 batting average during September. Gordon finished the 2010 season with a .215 and eight home runs, having appeared in only 74 games for the Royals.