Caleb Joseph is hitting .103

[Frobby]

Caleb is now hitting .097 and has struck out in 45% of his plate appearances.    He’s also allowed 2 passed balls and 6 wild pitches have gotten past him.    

Yesterday, he tried to throw out a runner and his throw hit the front of the pitcher’s mound and bounced straight up in the air.    He also let a Bundy pitch get past him that allowed the go ahead run to score, that in my opinion should have been blocked.   (There was another WP earlier that was clearly Bundy’s fault.)    Overall, his pitch blocking has been very weak early in the season.    

Caleb’s made a few great defensive plays this year too (including a tag play yesterday), so it’s not all negative.   But Caleb has shown in the past that when he gets into a funk offensively, it can last a long time (his RBI-less season being only one example).   

I hope Caleb starts playing better, and I think we’re going to be seeing more of Sisco as the season goes along.   

[theobird]

I think we are gonna see a lot more of Sisco, starting real soon. Sisco has done quite well behind the plate, better than I thought he would. So that should get his bat in the lineup pretty frequently.

 

[LookitsPuck]

I'm not impressed w/ Chance's game calling nor pitch framing thus far.

That said, Caleb has been abysmal so far this year. 

[Tony-OH]

On 4/14/2018 at 12:53 PM, weams said:

Or DFA Caleb. OR Hart. 

What's in carnation are you talking about? In what world is Caleb Joseph going to be DFA'd after 26 games? Joseph is a much better game caller and has already helped win two games with his defense in New York that we would have lost if he weren't in there. 

Joseph is off to a slow start like many other Orioles offensively. He's also been robbed several time of hard hit balls and had a homer taken away. I do like how Buck is time sharing though with Sisco. No issues there, but Caleb is going no where.

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Caleb is now hitting .097 and has struck out in 45% of his plate appearances.    He’s also allowed 2 passed balls and 6 wild pitches have gotten past him.    

Yesterday, he tried to throw out a runner and his throw hit the front of the pitcher’s mound and bounced straight up in the air.    He also let a Bundy pitch get past him that allowed the go ahead run to score, that in my opinion should have been blocked.   (There was another WP earlier that was clearly Bundy’s fault.)    Overall, his pitch blocking has been very weak early in the season.    

Caleb’s made a few great defensive plays this year too (including a tag play yesterday), so it’s not all negative.   But Caleb has shown in the past that when he gets into a funk offensively, it can last a long time (his RBI-less season being only one example).   

I hope Caleb starts playing better, and I think we’re going to be seeing more of Sisco as the season goes along.   

I'm as big a fan of Caleb as there is around because know how much he does behind the scenes and how much he cares. Saying all that, there is a little doubt he's not off to a great start this season. I think he will be better as the season goes on but I think Buck is doing a good job with the current time share. 

It's not always easy to quantify but Caleb is much better at game calling than Sisco at this stage in their careers and unfortunately, there's a different level of effort when it comes to preparing for games with pitchers and understanding the opposing lineup at this point. There's a lot more to the catcher's position then just hitting so i think that's why you will see a very long leash with Caleb.

Saying that, at some point they need to find a way to get him in the lineup more. I would not be opposed to Alvarez to first base, Sisco to DH, and Davis to bench in games where Davis is a particular bad matchup against a righty (which is pretty much everyone at this point but I digress.) 

[weams]

12 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I'm as big a fan of Caleb as there is around because know how much he does behind the scenes and how much he cares. Saying all that, there is a little doubt he's not off to a great start this season. I think he will be better as the season goes on but I think Buck is doing a good job with the current time share. 

It's not always easy to quantify but Caleb is much better at game calling than Sisco at this stage in their careers and unfortunately, there's a different level of effort when it comes to preparing for games with pitchers and understanding the opposing lineup at this point. There's a lot more to the catcher's position then just hitting so i think that's why you will see a very long leash with Caleb.

Saying that, at some point they need to find a way to get him in the lineup more. I would not be opposed to Alvarez to first base, Sisco to DH, and Davis to bench in games where Davis is a particular bad matchup against a righty (which is pretty much everyone at this point but I digress.) 

Thank you for the extra insight. 

[glenn__davis]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Yesterday, he tried to throw out a runner and his throw hit the front of the pitcher’s mound and bounced straight up in the air.    He also let a Bundy pitch get past him that allowed the go ahead run to score, that in my opinion should have been blocked.   (There was another WP earlier that was clearly Bundy’s fault.)    Overall, his pitch blocking has been very weak early in the season.    

 

In fairness to Caleb, his front foot slipped on that throw to 2nd.  I agree with the rest of your post but tough to hold that against him.

But yeah, he needs to start hitting.  Along with the rest of the team other than Mancini, Machado and Sisco.

[weams]

 

[weams]

On 4/16/2018 at 12:28 PM, glenn__davis said:

In fairness to Caleb, his front foot slipped on that throw to 2nd.  I agree with the rest of your post but tough to hold that against him.

But yeah, he needs to start hitting.  Along with the rest of the team other than Mancini, Machado and Sisco.

In fairness to Caleb,  he may have already had his zenith in the MLB. No matter how nice or how good a story he is. 

[amdcpus]

54 minutes ago, weams said:

In fairness to Caleb,  he may have already had his zenith in the MLB. No matter how nice or how good a story he is. 

He's made it to the MLB for 5 years. Better than most can say, but his time is done.

[baltfan]

On 4/16/2018 at 12:02 PM, Tony-OH said:

I'm as big a fan of Caleb as there is around because know how much he does behind the scenes and how much he cares. Saying all that, there is a little doubt he's not off to a great start this season. I think he will be better as the season goes on but I think Buck is doing a good job with the current time share. 

It's not always easy to quantify but Caleb is much better at game calling than Sisco at this stage in their careers and unfortunately, there's a different level of effort when it comes to preparing for games with pitchers and understanding the opposing lineup at this point. There's a lot more to the catcher's position then just hitting so i think that's why you will see a very long leash with Caleb.

Saying that, at some point they need to find a way to get him in the lineup more. I would not be opposed to Alvarez to first base, Sisco to DH, and Davis to bench in games where Davis is a particular bad matchup against a righty (which is pretty much everyone at this point but I digress.) 

Is the highlighted from inside information or speculation based on results?  Not doubting, just wondering the source.

[OriolesMagic83]

I want Joseph on the O's all season long.  He'll eventually be the backup catcher.  Probably by the All-Star break or before if he doesn't start hitting.  Joseph's most important job is mentoring Sisco and training him to be a ML catcher.

[OriolesMagic83]

I'm not blaming the O's pathetic offense on Joseph.  He wasn't expected to hit much.  I place much more blame on our star 1B.

[atomic]

1 hour ago, weams said:

In fairness to Caleb,  he may have already had his zenith in the MLB. No matter how nice or how good a story he is. 

His career OPS Is .624 and he is about to turn 32.  He went a whole year without an RBI.  He just can't hit.  Fine for a back up who plays 40 games a year.  

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, weams said:

In fairness to Caleb,  he may have already had his zenith in the MLB. No matter how nice or how good a story he is. 

He was pretty solid last year.  .700 OPS, worth 1.6 rWAR despite only starting 69 games.   But if you drill down, you’ll see he finished the year in a terrible funk, batting only .141/.167/.219 from August 11 to the end of the season.    For some reason, when Caleb gets in a funk he really has trouble pulling out of it.   Sisco needs to play more while Caleb is flailing.