In honor of JoePo's glowing praise of Gathright last weekend, I humbly present:
Five Fun Facts About Joey Gathright:
0. He's fast. Everyone mentions this, so it doesn't count as a fun fact.
1. For mysterious reasons, Gathright has been a significantly better player at night than during the day.
Gathright Time of Day Splits (Career):
Day: .190/.289/.215 (183 PAs)
Night: .271/.330/.333 (537 PAs)
Not only will I now draw rock-solid analytical conclusions from this data, I will use it to judge Gathright morally as well. Clearly, he's not getting enough rest for those morning games. (wink wink, nudge nudge)
2. Last season Gathright finished 6th in the American League with 9 caught stealings, tying former teammate Carl Crawford. Unfortunately, Crawford also stole 58 bases, while Gator only managed 22.
3. According to Wikipedia, Gathright has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.
4. Gathright once jumped over a car. Really. He claims he's done it "probably 30 times".
5. Gathright saw 3.73 pitches per plate appearance with the Royals in 2006. One of the highest numbers on the Royals. However (sample size alert!) this was actually the lowest P/PA number of his career.