His parents are Ernie Gordon, who grew up a Yankees fan in Hyde Park, New York, and Wendy Abrahamsen.

His father was an Army engineer stationed at West Point when he was born,[1] but the family moved to Round Rock, Texas, before he was 2 years old.

[citation needed] At Round Rock High School, his career record was 43–3, and his team, the Dragons, won the Texas class 5A state championship in 1997.

Playing the entire year in Triple-A, he batted only .241, and after the season decided to convert to pitcher[2] with the help of Hall-of-Famer Nolan Ryan, who was a special assistant to the Astros.

Gordon attended Venezuelan Winter League for the 2008–2009 season with Tiburones de la Guaira, posting a 4–2 record with a 1.79 ERA in 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 20,000, posting 8 innings with 1 allowed run and 9 strikeouts.