Joey Gathright

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**Joey Gathright**

Kansas City Royals — No. 2
Center fielder
Born: April 27, 1981 (1981-04-27) (age 27)
Bats: Left	Throws: Right
Major League Baseball debut
June 25, 2004 for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays
Selected MLB statistics (through May 11, 2008)
Batting average	.264
Home runs	1
Stolen bases	67
Teams
Tampa Bay Devil Rays (2004-2006) Kansas City Royals (2006-present)

Joey Renard Gathright (born April 27, 1981 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi) is a center fielder in Major League Baseball for the Kansas City Royals. He made his major league debut with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on June 25, 2004. He attended Bonnabel High School in Kenner, Louisiana, and played baseball as a junior. He was drafted by the Devil Rays in the 32nd round of the 2001 draft, and signed in August after playing that summer in a Louisiana Sugar Daddy Cane League in Sorrento, Louisiana.

Gathright is arguably one of the fastest players in major leauge baseball, and shows this speed very well in the field, as he led all major league outfielders in range factor (3.06) in 2006. He is also is a very good defensive player, partially because his speed allows him to track down balls most other outfielders wouldn't be able to get to, along with his excellent jumping ability. He is not a player who hits for power (with only one home run in his MLB career), however he is known to hit for average, although he will have slumps which cause his batting average to fall.

He has been clocked at 6-6.7 seconds in the 60-yard dash.^{[citation needed]} Most scouts consider him to be the fastest player in all of baseball Rays tales. While in high school, he jumped over his coach's car.^[1]. That jumping ability proved useful on the field, as in a 2008 spring training game Gathright jumped over Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, who was trying to tag him out en route to first base.

In 2005, he hit .276 in 76 games, and drew 10 walks.

On June 20, 2006 he was traded to the Kansas City Royals, along with infielder Fernando Cortez, for left-handed pitcher J. P. Howell.

In 2007, Joey broke up Bobby Jenks's major league record-tying streak of 41 consecutive batters retired. Gathright, who would have been the record 42nd batter, was able to record a hit.