Jayson Werth

Jayson Richard Gowan Werth (born May 20, 1979), is an American former professional baseball outfielder, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Washington Nationals. During his playing days, Werth stood 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 m) tall, weighing 235 pounds (107 kg); he batted and threw right-handed. While primarily a right fielder throughout his career, Werth also played left field for the Nationals.\n', ' Werth was born in Springfield, Illinois, the son of Jeff Gowan, a collegiate baseball and football player who broke all the receiving records and led all Division I wide receivers in receptions while at Illinois State University,[citation needed] and played outfield in the St. Louis Cardinals farm system in 1978 and Kim Schofield, who competed in the U.S. Olympic Trials in the long jump and 100 meters. He is the grandson of Ducky Schofield and nephew of Dick Schofield, both Major League Baseball infielders, and stepson of Dennis Werth, who played in parts of four seasons with the Kansas City Royals and New York Yankees from 1979 through 1982. Werth is married with two children.\n', ' Werth was successful as a youngster, playing for the top youth traveling teams in Springfield, Illinois. His teams began traveling when he was seven and dominated the state of Illinois youth baseball with four consecutive state championships (never finishing worse than fourth in nationals) in Khoury League with the Bunn Brewers. He then played for a national power, the Springfield Flame, where his team won the state and Midwest Regional and finished third in the 1993 Sandy Koufax World Series in Spring, Texas, behind Pico Rivera, California and a Dallas, Texas, team that included future major leaguer Vernon Wells. Werth also was selected to play for the U.S. Junior Pan Am Games in 1995. He gained more attention while attending Glenwood High School in Chatham, Illinois, where he compiled a .616 batting average in his senior year with 15 home runs in 31 games and helped his team to the state championship in 1996 (his junior year). Werth was named to the 1997 All-America First Team by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings as a catcher.\n', '