Joey Renard Gathright (born April 27, 1981) is a former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

outfielder for the

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

, Kansas City Royals, Chicago Cubs and

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

. He was born in

Hattiesburg Hattiesburg is a city in the U.S. state of Mississippi, located primarily in Forrest County (where it is the county seat and largest city) and extending west into Lamar County. The city population was 45,989 at the 2010 census, with the populat ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Early life

Gathright attended Bonnabel High School in

Kenner Kenner Products, known simply as Kenner, was an American toy company founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines including action figures like the original series of ' ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, where he played baseball and football as a junior and

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

ed. He was drafted by the

in the 32nd round of the 2001 Major League Baseball Draft, and signed in August after playing that summer in a Louisiana Sugar Cane League in

Sorrento Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...

, Louisiana.

Major league career

Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2004–06)

He made his major league debut with the Devil Rays on June 25, 2004. Gathright was arguably one of the fastest players in major league baseball when he made his major league debut, and led all major league

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

s in range factor (3.06) in 2006. He does not hit for power (with only one

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

in his MLB career). From 2006 to 2009, he had the lowest slugging average of players with at least 1000 plate appearances at .298. He has a .263 lifetime

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

going into the 2009 season. Gathright was clocked at 6.1 seconds in the 60-yard dash. While in high school, he jumped over his coach's car.Topkin, Mark (2004
Rays tales
''St. Petersburg Times'' That jumping ability proved useful on the field, as in a 2008 spring training game Gathright jumped over

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

Hiroki Kuroda is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for Hiroshima Toyo Carp from 1997 to 2007 before playing in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2008 to 2011 and ...

, who was trying to tag him out en route to first base. In 2005, he hit .276 in 76 games, and drew 10 walks.

Kansas City Royals (2006–08)

On June 20, 2006, he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, along with infielder

Fernando Cortez Fernando Cortez (born October 29, 1981 in Stockton, California) is a former Major League Baseball infielder. His last MLB team was the Kansas City Royals. Career Tampa Bay Rays Cortez was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the 9th round o ...

, for left-handed pitcher J. P. Howell. In the 2006 season, he batted .238 with a .321 on-base percentage, and a .292 slugging percentage. He hit his first, and to date only,

on September 16, 2006 against

Joel Piñeiro Joel Alberto Piñeiro (, ; born September 25, 1978) is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim ...

of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

. In 2007, Gathright broke up

Bobby Jenks Robert Scott Jenks (born March 14, 1981) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox from 2005 through 2011. According to the ''Baseball Almanac'', his ...

's major league record-tying streak of 41 consecutive batters retired. Gathright, who would have been the record 42nd batter, was able to get a hit. While playing center field, his range factor per nine innings was below average in 2007, 2008, and 2009. In 2008 Gathright saw his range factor fall to 2.53, below all but one center field starter in the league. He also hit .254 with a .311 on-base percentage, and only a .272 slugging percentage—below that of all starting outfielders in the major leagues. Gathright, while with the Royals, had a tendency to attempt to bunt for base hits in order to use his superior speed to reach base. However, he proved to be an inconsistent bunter, and thus his on-base percentage and batting average suffered.

Chicago Cubs (2009)

On December 16, 2008, three days after being non-tendered by the Royals, Gathright signed a one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs. and made his debut April 6 against the Houston Astros. In 20 games for the Cubs, he hit .214.

Baltimore Orioles (2009)

On May 8, 2009, after clearing waivers and being sent outright to the minors, the Cubs traded Gathright to the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...

for

Ryan Freel Ryan Paul Freel (March 8, 1976 – December 22, 2012) was an American professional baseball player. A utility player, Freel played second base, third base, and all three outfield positions in Major League Baseball for the Baltimore Orioles, Chicag ...

. The Orioles sent him to the AAA

Norfolk Tides The Norfolk Tides are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. They are located in Norfolk, Virginia, and are named in nautical reference to the city's location on the Chesapea ...

, where he hit .329 in 80 games.

Boston Red Sox (2009)

On August 29, 2009, the

acquired Gathright in exchange for either a player to be named later or cash considerations. He appeared in 17 regular season games, primarily as a pinch runner. He was on the post-season roster, where he made one appearance without an at-bat.

2010: Toronto, Baltimore, Long Island

On December 13, 2009, the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

signed Gathright to a minor league contract. However, he was released on March 28 before the start of the season. On March 30, 2010, he signed a minor league contract to return to the Orioles. He was released on July 22, 2010 after 61 games with Norfolk, where he hit only .185 On August 6, 2010, Gathright signed with the Long Island Ducks of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Atlantic League. He ended the season hitting .269 with 3 home runs and 19 RBI.

2011: Shreveport-Bossier, Yuma, Boston

On April 13, 2011, Gathright signed with the Shreveport-Bossier Captains of the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

. He was released on June 7, 2011 after hitting .190 in 21 games. He then signed, on June 10, 2011, with the

Yuma Scorpions Yuma can refer to: Places * Yuma Desert, desert in southwest U.S. and northwest Mexico ;United States * Yuma County, Arizona ** Yuma, Arizona ** Fortuna Foothills, Arizona ** Marine Corps Air Station Yuma ** United States Army Yuma Proving Ground ...

of the North American League, where he hit .347 in 61 games. His performance got him another chance in the Majors and on August 31, 2011, he returned to the Red Sox. He appeared in 7 late season games with the Red Sox, as either a defensive replacement or pinch runner.

2012

He was signed by the

Tigres de Quintana Roo The Quintana Roo Tigers (), formerly known as the Mexico (City) Tigers () are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League based in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The team is part of the Southern Division (). The team has won twelve champio ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican League (, ) is a professional baseball league based in Mexico and the oldest running professional league in the country. The league has 18 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games each season. Five te ...

but later signed with the

Bridgeport Bluefish The Bridgeport Bluefish were an American minor league baseball team based in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The team was a member of the Liberty Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseba ...

of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. On May 24, the Cincinnati Reds purchased Gathright's contract from the Bridgeport club. He reported to the Louisville Bats, Cincinnati's AAA minor league affiliate. He was released on July 14 after hitting .299 in 40 games.

2013

On July 2, 2013, Joey Gathright signed with the

Kansas City T-Bones The Kansas City Monarchs are a professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Kansas. Formerly known as the Kansas City T-Bones, they are members of the American Association of Professional Baseball; which, in 2020, became designated as a Majo ...

in the

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gathright, Joey 1981 births Living people Major League Baseball outfielders Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Kansas City Royals players Chicago Cubs players Boston Red Sox players Baseball players from Mississippi Charleston RiverDogs players Bakersfield Blaze players Orlando Rays players Montgomery Biscuits players Durham Bulls players Omaha Royals players Norfolk Tides players Pawtucket Red Sox players Long Island Ducks players Shreveport-Bossier Captains players Yuma Scorpions players Bridgeport Bluefish players Louisville Bats players Kansas City T-Bones players People from Columbia, Mississippi