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Royals camp update: Gathright sees 30 steals as path to regular duty
By BOB DUTTON
The Kansas City Star

SURPRISE, Ariz. | Speedy outfielder Joey Gathright sees a simple path to regular duty in the Royals’ lineup: More steals.

“If I had stolen 30 bases last year,” he said, “I don’t think I’d be having too many conversations about where I would be playing. But I did not. Therefore, my main goal this year is to do what I did last year plus steal a lot of bases.”

A year ago, Gathright concentrated on becoming a better bunter and improving his plate discipline. The results were notable. He batted .307 with a .371 on-base percentage in 74 big-league games and .341 with a .457 OBP in 60 games at Class AAA Omaha.

Even so, he appears in line for nothing more than part-time duty in left field.

Solution: Turn on the jets.

Gathright is generally regarded as one of the game’s fastest players — the fastest, he’ll say — but he has just 19 steals in 33 attempts since joining the Royals in a June 2006 trade that sent pitcher J.P. Howell to Tampa Bay.

The problem, he says, is ex-manager Buddy Bell kept him under wraps.

“It’s just difficult to do things if you don’t have the green light,” Gathright said. “If you look at my numbers in Triple-A and my numbers in the big leagues, you’ll see a big difference.”

Gathright was 25 for 33 in stolen-base attempts last season at Omaha; he was also 38 for 47 in parts of three seasons at Tampa Bay.

“In Triple-A,” he said, “I had nobody telling me when to go and when not to go. When you have the green light, you have control over when you should go. That’s all it is. If you’re not comfortable on first base, you’re not going to be able to steal a base.” Roster move The Royals made a minor roster move before Thursday’s workout by reassigning catcher Kiel Thibault to minor-league camp. Thibault was limited in his throwing because of tendonitis in his right shoulder and will undergo rehab work.

The move trims the camp roster to 61 players, including infielder Alberto Callaspo, who is expected to join the squad for Friday’s workout after resolving visa problems in Venezuela.