Jayson Richard Gowan Werth (born May 20, 1979) is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2002 to 2017. His 15-season career was split among the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Washington Nationals.
Born in Springfield, Illinois, Werth was a third-generation baseball player, as his great-grandfather and grandfather had both played professional baseball, as had his uncle and stepfather. His time catching for Glenwood High School led to an athletic scholarship to play college baseball with the Georgia Bulldogs, which he turned down after the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the 1997 MLB draft. Werth played in the Orioles' farm system until 2001, when he was traded to the Blue Jays as part of a package for John Bale. Werth made his MLB debut with the Blue Jays in 2002, and split time between the majors and minors until he was traded to the Dodgers in 2004.
Werth's tenure with the Dodgers was marked by injury, including a torn ulnotriquetral ligament that kept him out for the entire 2006 season. That winter, he was signed by the Phillies as a free agent bench player. By the end of the 2008 season, however, Werth had become an everyday outfielder for Philadelphia, and he became the latest player in his family to win a World Series championship. The following year, Werth was named to the All-Star Game and appeared in his second consecutive World Series, where he set a franchise postseason record with nine home runs in one postseason run. He was less successful in 2010, however, and the Phillies were eliminated in the 2010 National League Championship Series by the San Francisco Giants.
In December 2010, Werth joined the Nationals on a seven-year, $126 million contract. After his first season with the team was spent in a prolonged slump and his second was limited by a second injury to his left wrist, Werth returned in full in 2013 for one of the best seasons of his career, batting .318 with 25 home runs and 82 runs batted in. The last few seasons of his MLB career were mired in injury: he missed most of the 2015 season after acromioclavicular joint surgery and another wrist fracture, while he missed several months of the 2017 season with a hairline fracture in his foot. Werth signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners in 2018 and played in 36 games for the Triple-A Tacoma Rainiers, but after a stint on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, he elected to retire from baseball.
Jayson Richard Gowan Werth was born on May 20, 1979, in Springfield, Illinois, into an athletic family. His great-grandfather John Schofield was a shortstop whose foray into Major League Baseball (MLB) was cut short by a leg fracture. Schofield's son Ducky, Werth's grandfather, played in MLB from 1953 to 1971, and helped the Pittsburgh Pirates to win the 1960 World Series. Werth's uncle Dick Schofield was also an MLB shortstop for 14 seasons and won the 1993 World Series with the Toronto Blue Jays. While she did not play softball, Werth's mother Kim Schofield Werth was a track and field star who holds two national records, while his father Jeff Gowan was a former wide receiver for the Illinois State Redbirds football team and played for one season in the St. Louis Cardinals' farm system.
Werth's parents separated shortly after he was born, and he had a limited relationship with his estranged father. In 1984 his mother married Dennis Werth, a first baseman for the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals, leading Werth to pick up a love of baseball via his stepfather. By the time he was 11, Werth would practice catching in his backyard, with his stepfather using a pitching machine to help Werth block balls. He began playing baseball competitively at the age of seven, and his youth team, the Springfield Flame, finished in third place at the 1993 Sandy Koufax World Series. Two years later, Werth was selected for the US team at the Junior Pan American Games. In his final season playing for Glenwood High School in Chatham, Illinois, Werth batted .652 with 15 home runs, 56 runs batted in (RBI) and 27 stolen bases.
Baltimore Orioles organization (1997–2000)
The Baltimore Orioles, the only Major League Baseball (MLB) team to have two first-round selections in the 1997 MLB draft, selected Werth 22nd overall and Darnell McDonald 26th overall. Although he had previously committed to play college baseball for the Georgia Bulldogs on an athletic scholarship, Werth chose to forego his commitment in order to sign with the Orioles for a salary of around $850,000. Although he was immediately productive with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League (GCL) Orioles, batting .309 with five RBI and a home run through his first 20 professional games, Werth also ran into health issues for the first time in his career, the Florida heat causing recurrent back spasms that sidelined him for half of what should have been his first 40 games. He ultimately appeared in 32 games for the GCL Orioles, batting .295 with one home run and eight RBI in 88 at bats.
Werth began the 1998 season with the Low-A Delmarva Shorebirds, with whom he collected three RBI through his first eight South Atlantic League games. Batting .311 with 20 RBI and 12 stolen bases through the end of May, Werth was one of four Shorebirds selected to attend the South Atlantic All-Star Game in June. In 120 games and 408 at bats for Delmarva, Werth batted .265 with eight home runs and 53 RBI. He also impressed behind the plate, helping to call games for his pitchers and successfully throwing out the only baserunner who attempted to steal on him. When the Shorebirds were eliminated from their respective playoffs on September 1, Werth joined the Double-A Bowie Baysox for the remainder of their season. He appeared in five games there, going 3-for-19 with one RBI.
Leading into the 1999 Minor League Baseball season, Werth quelled rumors that the Orioles were interested in turning him from a catcher into an outfielder, saying, "I played outfield in two games in high school. I don't really know how to play outfield." Instead, he joined the Class A-Advanced Frederick Keys for the start of the season as a catcher. Shortly after participating in the Carolina League All-Star Game in July, Werth received a surprise promotion to Bowie: despite being told that he was likely to spend the entire season in Frederick, an injury to Chip Alley created a spot for Werth in Double-A. At the time, he had been batting .305 through 66 Carolina League games, with three home runs and 30 RBI in 236 at bats. After the promotion, he played an additional 35 games in Double-A, where he batted .373 with one home run and 11 RBI in 121 at bats. Werth was expected to play for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the 1999 Arizona Fall League, but suffered a fractured left wrist in Bowie and was replaced by Tim DeCinces.
With veteran catcher Charles Johnson disillusioned with the Orioles over contract disputes during the 1999–2000 offseason, Baltimore began planning for his replacement in Werth. Rather than prematurely promoting him to Triple-A, farm system director Don Buford decided that Werth would begin the 2000 season in Bowie before making his MLB debut in 2001. Instead, after batting only .231 with 25 RBI in Double-A, he received a surprise demotion back to Frederick on August 9, while Mike Kinkade was promoted to Triple-A and Fernando Lumar took Werth's place in Double-A. Werth was more successful in Frederick, batting .277 with two home runs and 18 RBI in 83 at bats across 24 games.
Toronto Blue Jays organization (2001–2002)
On December 12, 2000, amidst a series of minor league trades, Werth was sent to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for left-handed pitcher John Bale. With his new team, Werth once again opened a season on the disabled list, this time with a foot injury. After 21 games with the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, during which he batted .200 with two home runs and 14 RBI, Werth was promoted to the Double-A Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League, where, after a successful July in which he batted .350 with 32 RBI, he was named the Topps Double-A Batter of the Month. He played a total of 104 games in Tennessee, batting .285 with 18 home runs and 69 RBI in 369 at bats. While he caught in most of the games he started, Werth also appeared as a first baseman for 28 games.