Bio

Joey Butler

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (2004-06)
Pascagoula, Miss. 

Joey Butler was a slugging outfielder who played two stellar seasons at Gulf Coast on the way to a professional career that saw him spend parts of three seasons in the majors.

He signed to play at Gulf Coast out of Pascagoula, where he slugged six home runs with 26 RBI and a .443 average as a senior.

In his 2005 freshman season, Butler showed his talent early. he had two hits in a 5-2 win over LSU Eunice in the opening game of a doubleheader on Feb. 26. In a 15-6 win over McHenry (Ill.), he had three hits.

The Bulldogs shut out Harper (Ill.) 10-0 to close out a doubleheader on March 28, and Butler went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI. He had four hits in a 14-1 win over Co-Lin to earn a split in Wesson on March 30.

In a doubleheader sweep of Jones on April 14, Butler went 4-for-7 with three RBI.

In the first game of the MACJC Tournament in Senatobia, Butler homered to put the Bulldogs up 4-1 in the third inning. He’d add another hit, but Gulf Coast lost 6-5. He finished the tournament with two home runs.

He ended the season batting .402 and earned a spot on the All-MACJC Second Team.

It was more of the same the next year. Butler’s first big day of his sophomore season came in the second doubleheader at East Central. He went 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI in a 7-1 win, then had two hits and two RBI in a 6-4 victory.

He had four hits, including a triple, in a doubleheader against Mississippi Delta. Butler’s two-run walk-off home run against Mineral Area (Mo.) gave Gulf Coast a 7-6 win on March 13.

In a split against Southwest Mississippi, Butler had two hits in both ends of the doubleheader. He had a pair of doubles and three RBI in an 8-2 loss against East Mississippi and had two more hits in a 10-2 win over Southwest.

Butler came a double short of hitting for the cycle in a 14-4 win over Copiah-Lincoln in Wesson on April 19. On April 22, he had three hits in an 8-0 win over Pearl River which clinched a berth in the MACJC Tournament. He had a key two-run single in a 7-3 win over No. 3 Southwest Mississippi to cap a sweep that gave the Bulldogs the MACCC South title. It was the Bulldogs’ 25^th win in 30 games.

In the opening game of the state tournament, Butler’s eighth-inning sacrifice fly gave Gulf Coast a 2-1 win over Holmes.

Butler ended the season batting .374 with 38 RBI in 52 games. He led the team with 46 runs scored. He was named to the All-MACJC First Team and signed with the University of New Orleans.

Butler’s name is still scattered through the UNO record book. He’s still tied for the school record with two triples in a game and ranks fourth on the season lists in at-bats (267), runs (77) and doubles (21). He has the fifth-most hits in a season (92) and sixth-most total bases (158). He got plunked 13 times in a season, second-most in school history.

He was named to the All-Sun Belt Tournament Team as a junior and earned All-Sun Belt Second Team and ABCA All-Region Second Team honors. Butler was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 15^th round of the 2008 MLB Draft.

He played in the major leagues during three seasons, first with the Rangers in 2013 and the next year with the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2015, he batted .276 with eight home runs and 30 RBI with the Tampa Bay Rays.

He played part of the 2014 season in Japan with the Orix Buffaloes and ended his baseball career after spending the 2017 season in Syracuse. He batted .281 with 108 home runs and 526 in 1,126 professional games.