The Orioles have won their arbitration hearing against catcher Caleb Joseph, reports Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports (on Twitter). As such, Joseph will earn the $700K figure submitted by the team as opposed to the $1MM sum submitted by his camp.
Joseph was a solid fill-in for the injured Matt Wieters for much of 2015, hitting .234/.299/.394 with 11 homers, but he faced an uphill battle in an arbitration hearing coming off a dreadful 2016 campaign. In 49 games and 141 plate appearances, Joseph batted .174/.216/.197 and, remarkably, did not drive in a run. While there’s a greater focus on more modern statistics throughout the industry, the arbitration process still focuses heavily on “baseball card” stats such as runs batted in. That, a lack of playing time and a just three extra-base hits on the season (all doubles) all seem to have outweighed Joseph’s status as a strong defensive catcher. He threw out 31 percent of attempted base thieves in 2016 and graded as a decidedly above-average pitch framer once again, per Baseball Prospectus, as he has throughout his Major League and minor league career.
The 30-year-old Joseph figures to be a backup in Baltimore again in 2017, though he’s behind Welington Castillo and not Wieters this time around. The Orioles still control Joseph through the 2020 season, and he’s arb-eligible another three times along the way. With Joseph’s case out of the way, Baltimore can shift its focus to its remaining two arbitration cases: right-handers Kevin Gausman and Brad Brach (as can be seen in MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker).
Did anyone really think he was going to win?
He did
Unbelievable that a guy who can’t hit a lick thinks is worth barely more than league minimum. i understand his glove is a tad above average, but this guy looks sick at the plate if anyone has ever watched him hit, like as bad as many pitchers do. I think Clay Bucholz looks better at the plate and he only gets half dozen AB’s a season.
Catching might be the sole position where hitting can slide, but this guy is bottom dwelling. O’s need someone else instead of the all time record holder for most AB’s in a season without an RBI which Joseph set in 2016.
Josheph was actually touted as a hitting first catcher coming from the minor leagues with the only question supposedly was his glove was not ready. Interesting how his second year took this turn, and I know they say catcher’s bats are slower to develop than other positions due to focus on defense, I wonder if this is the case here where he’s had to work on his “weakness” for so long that he hasn’t put in the work to maintaining his swing. He showed lots of promise in the minors and in his first year, so I wouldn’t write him off just yet.
His people did
I’d like to get paid 700k for few hits, no RBI’s and calling a game.
You couldn’t even throw the ball back to the pitcher, let alone throw a runner out at second base.
lol. MLB Bird-Dog Scout, M Twins Bird-dog Scout, Pitching Coach, Manager, General Manager Triple AAA Amateur All_stars drafting age 15-17. I have thrown thousands of Batting practice pitches, was a closer for a team I pitched for, barring injury even at 54 yrs old, I think I could make the throw. 🙂
Yikes. Looks like he hit a nerve with that joke…
lol yea. Pretty sad actually.
Not sad or arrogant, just pissed at foolish people who presumptively make fake news comments like “couldn’t make the throw”.
I agree jimmertee. The only thing sad was his his comment. To be pompous enough to make the assumption is just plain stupid and simply uncalled for.
natesp4:
Insults are not “jokes”.
I thought the the Zero RBIs would have really boosted his case.
Very funny!!
What’s the record for most AB’s in one season without an RBI ?
Apparently since RBI became an official statistic, Joseph holds the record. Pre-1920, there was one guy who had five more than Joseph’s 132.
From what I’ve found, Caleb Joseph holds that record for hitters at 132 AB’s.
Pitcher Oscar Jones seems to hold the overall record when he went 137 AB’s without an RBI in 1904. He even had a triple that season.
Joseph had a crap year, but he’s not as bad as some folks are making him out to be.
He’s good behind the dish, plus he’s cheap, optionable and under club control.
The O’s won’t stick with him all year if he plays as poorly as last year.
Also, he “took one for the team” last year in a BIG way- I’m sure that affected his performance.
PS- If RBI as a stat don’t really matter (as some would claim) when a player gets a bunch of them, why do they matter when a guy doesn’t get any?