Caleb Joseph

Caleb Martin Joseph (born June 18, 1986) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB).

He made his MLB debut in 2014. In 2016, Joseph set the all-time major league records for at bats (132) and plate appearances (141) without an RBI in a single season.

High school and college

Joseph attended Franklin High School in Franklin, Tennessee, where he played for the high school baseball team. He attended Lipscomb University, choosing to play college baseball for the Lipscomb Bisons in the Atlantic Sun Conference, due to the promise of more playing time than he was offered by Vanderbilt University and the University of Arkansas, where he was also recruited. In his junior year, Joseph led the Bisons with a .342 batting average, 17 home runs, and a .615 slugging percentage. He was named to the All-Conference team and was named the Most Valuable Player of the conference tournament.

Minor leagues

The Baltimore Orioles drafted Joseph in the seventh round, with the 206th overall selection, of the 2008 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Orioles, receiving a $125,000 signing bonus and tuition payments for his final three semesters of college. In his first professional season, the Orioles assigned him to the Aberdeen IronBirds of the Class A-Short Season New York–Penn League, where he batted .261 with eight home runs and 34 runs batted in in 63 games. In 2009, the Orioles assigned Joseph to the Frederick Keys of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League.

He played for the Bowie Baysox of the Class AA Eastern League in 2010, and for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League after the season. The Orioles returned Joseph to Bowie in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, Joseph had a .299 batting average, 22 home runs, and 97 RBI for the Baysox. He was named an All-Star at mid-season and for the season-ending team, and was named the Eastern League's Minor League Player of the Year by Topps. At the mid-season Eastern League All-Star Game, Joseph won the Home Run Derby. The Orioles did not renew his contract, and he was not picked up in the Rule 5 draft in December 2013.

In six and a half minor league seasons, he has hit .268.

Baltimore Orioles

After Joseph started the 2014 season with the Norfolk Tides of the Class AAA International League, the Orioles promoted him to the major leagues on May 7. Joseph recorded his first major league hit off of Detroit Tigers pitcher Drew Smyly on May 13. On June 22, Joseph hit his first major league home run off of New York Yankees reliever David Huff.

On August 9, Joseph hit a home run in the Orioles' 10–3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals; making him the first Orioles catcher to homer in 5 consecutive games. He batted .207/.264/.354 in 246 at bats for the 2014 season.

With Matt Wieters still recovering from Tommy John surgery, Joseph began the 2015 season as the Orioles starting catcher. Joseph was hitting .243 with 4 HR and 18 RBI in 43 games until Wieters was activated on June 5, and following his activation, Joseph and Wieters split catching duties. In 100 games in 2015, Joseph hit .234/.299/.394 with 11 HR and 49 RBI. Joseph also caught 33% of attempted base stealers, and led the pitching staff to a 3.65 ERA when he was behind the plate.

The Washington Post ran a headline towards the end of 2016: "In 129 at-bats, the Baltimore Orioles’ Caleb Joseph has as many RBI as you do". In 2016, Joseph finished the season with zero RBIs in 141 plate appearances, setting the all-time record without an RBI in a single season in the 97 seasons of MLB history since RBIs became a statistic. He also set the major league record for most at bats in a season (132), without an RBI. He broke the records for highs for a player with no RBIs set in 1971 by pitcher Wilbur Wood, with 96 at bats and 124 plate appearances. Joseph ended his 2016 season with a .174 batting average.

Through 2016, in his major league career Joseph had batted .213/.271/.342.

In February 2017, the Baltimore Orioles beat Joseph in arbitration, and he was given the team's $700,000 offer (an increase from his prior salary of $523,500), instead of his $1 million request.

On April 29, 2017, Joseph ended his at-bats without an RBI streak dating back to September 11, 2015 at 181 by hitting a two-run home-run against Tommy Layne in the bottom of the ninth inning of a 12-4 Orioles' loss against the New York Yankees.

Joseph's brother, Corban, has also played in MLB. Corban was also selected in the 2008 draft, chosen by the New York Yankees in the fourth round.