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.
He has been clocked at 6-6.7 seconds in the 60-yard
dash. That equilibrates to 2 tenths slower than
Gress.[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. That jumping ability proved useful on the
field, as in a 2008 Spring training game Gathright
jumped right over a pitcher 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. He led all major
league outfielders in range factor (3.06) in 2006.
In 2007, Joey broke up Bobby Jenks's major league
record-tying streak of 41 consecutive batters
retired. Gathright, who would have been the 42nd
batter and a record for Jenks if retired, was able
to record a hit.
