Joe Mathis

Joe Robert Mathis

• Bats Left, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 182 lb.
• High School Strom Thurmond High School

• Born August 10, 1974 in Johnston, SC USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Outfielder Joe Mathis played professionally from 1993 to 2008, spending the first seven years of his career in the Seattle Mariners chain and the latter nine years in independent baseball, with a brief, three-game stint in the Mexican League in 2007. He was originally taken by the Mariners in the 27th round of the 1993 amateur draft, a few picks ahead of infielder David Doster.

The speedster toiled in the low minors his first five seasons, stealing 7, 13, 26, 19 and 25 bases those years, respectively. In 1997, the last campaign of that run, he also hit 14 home runs, 15 triples, drove 82 runs in and scored 94 times for the Lancaster JetHawks, prompting his long-awaited promotion to Double-A for 1998. He spent a year there, then most of 1999 at that level; however, he also reached affiliated Triple-A for the first and only time that season, hitting .250/.293/.326 in 92 at-bats for the Tacoma Rainiers.

He joined the independent ranks in 2000, playing for the Newark Bears until 2002 and the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks from 2003 to 2008. He had three .300 seasons in that stretch, hitting .301/.376/.445 with 19 stolen bases in 75 games in 2003, .359/.442/.578 with 11 home runs, 24 steals, 42 doubles and 95 runs scored in 2006 and .305/.369/.537 with 17 home runs, 70 RBI and 16 steals in 90 games in 2007. During his indy league tenure, he stole as many as 31 bases in a season (2001) and no less than 15. In his short stay in the Mexican League, he hit .091 in 11 at-bats.

Overall, Mathis batted .286/.353/.440 with 117 home runs, 737 RBI, 292 stolen bases, 1,008 runs and 1,594 hits in 1,461 games over 16 seasons.