This is the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle Alex Gordon lives after being the second pick of the 2005 major-league baseball amateur draft, signing a multimillion-dollar deal, then becoming the top minor-league baseball player in his first season.

He’s mooching off his older brother in Lincoln.

“He just bought a house and had an extra room, so I’m using it,” Gordon said Thursday. “That’s what older brothers are for.”

In this case, payback will be for younger brother to keep a steady supply of tickets available once he makes it to the big show.

And if Gordon has his way, which he usually does when it comes to stepping on the diamond, he’ll be with the Kansas City Royals, if not to start next season, then sometime during it.

Right now, the former Nebraska All-American and Lincoln Southeast graduate is working out in preparation for spring training and the grind of his second year in the pros. Spring ball begins in late February in Surprise, Ariz., but Gordon is headed there in mid-January to get a head start.

“I kind of have a plan to go in there and do well and break with the team,” he said. “That’s kind of my plan going down early. Not that I don’t want to go to (Triple-A) Omaha, I just want to be in Kansas City.”

If he achieves that goal, he’ll join former Husker Darin Erstad, the top pick of the 1995 draft, in making it to the majors that quickly. Erstad, a two-time All-Star and three-time Gold Glove winner, played the first of his 10 seasons with the Anaheim/California Angels in 1996.

So what’s Gordon about to go through?

Erstad knows from experience that Gordon will command close attention from the Royals’ major- league staff in spring training. But it’s not like Gordon will need to change his approach.

“He’s obviously established himself as the best player in the minor leagues, and with that comes pretty high expectations,” Erstad said. “But I almost guarantee you his expectations are higher than what people are putting on him. I doubt very much that’s going to bother him.

“You want respect, but you don’t get to be a top pick and then all of a sudden you have this drive and you have to prove yourself.”

Gordon became the second player drafted by the Royals to receive the J.G. Taylor Spink Award as the Topps/Minor League Player of the Year. At Double-A Wichita, he hit .325 with 39 doubles, 29 homers, 101 RBIs, 22 steals and 111 runs. Others winners of the award include major-league stars Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, Andruw Jones, Paul Konerko, Eric Chavez and Josh Beckett.

Typical of Gordon’s career at Nebraska, he used a humbling experience at the Texas League All-Star Game, where he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, as motivation for a stretch when many first-year pros are susceptible to breakdowns.

Thereafter, he stepped on the throttle and in both July and August hit .355 and drove in 31 runs.

“Playing every day is definitely tough,” said Erstad, who’s a free agent coming back from injury. “Physically, your body gets used to it, but mentally … you have to have short-term memory and not let things snowball.”

On top of that, minor-league prospects also have to deal with being in a situation where individual agendas outweigh playing a team game.

“I didn’t play a lot in the minor leagues, but one thing I noticed is the minor leagues is a nasty business,” Erstad added. “The ultimate goal is not to win a Double-A or Triple-A team championship. Your ultimate goal is to try and get to the major leagues and win a World Series.”

Erstad guesses that Gordon probably could have played in the majors last season, but that the Royals didn’t want to rush him and have it affect him negatively.

Gordon, who’s long had a goal of being a professional athlete, seems as if he would’ve been fine had he gotten called up.

And when he does?

“He’s not going to see anything he hasn’t before,” Erstad said.

Even so, Gordon refuses to do too much sitting around in the offseason.

OK, so he took vacations to Mexico and Miami. But when he returned and went back to work, he did so with the attitude that’s helped him achieve at the highest level.

“I’m learning new things every day,” Gordon said. “As I get older, I think I’m going to get more used to the big-league year.”

Last season left Gordon with an award to covet. He’s likely, though, to leave it somewhere in his older brother’s house once he takes off for spring training.

Consider it rent.

“I was happy with it,” Gordon said, “but I think I’m still driven to maybe win the next award I can try to win.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.