Orioles' Joseph not sweating historic 0-RBI pace
Caleb Joseph is headed toward making baseball history - but not the kind any baseball player wants.
The Baltimore Orioles' backup catcher has come to the plate 135 times this season, and has zero runs batted in to show for it. Should he finish the season with this stat line, Joseph would become the first player since RBIs became an official statistic in 1920 to have over 100 plate appearances and zero RBIs in a season.
But Joseph isn't bothered by potentially having his name linked with this dubious historical footnote in baseball lore. Rather, he's embraced the "chase" and is happily taking the stream of jokes coming his way in the clubhouse.
"The clubhouse manager and I, we've got a little bet thing going on," Joseph told ESPN's Eddie Matz. "He told me I can't order any more bats until I get an RBI. I'm running kind of low on bats, so it's getting down to crunch time.
"Contrary to popular belief, I am trying to get one. Some guys in the clubhouse think there's a conspiracy to not get one. It may keep some fans up at night, but it don't keep me up."
Surprisingly, Joseph actually has a pair of hits with runners in scoring position this year, and one of them almost ended the RBI-less streak, which dates back to September 2015. During a game at Fenway Park in May, the 30-year-old lined a single to right field that should have scored Ryan Flaherty from second base, but Flaherty was stopped while rounding third. That, and Flaherty's .291 on-base percentage in the No. 8 spot, caused Joseph to crack that his drought is "all Ryan Flaherty’s fault."
Joseph isn't concerning himself with his RBI drought, though, and is confident he'll drive a runner in before the season's out. His major concerns this September lie in more important areas - like helping his Orioles nail down a playoff spot for the third time in five years.
"I'm not going to go change socks or change soap or anything like that," Joseph said. "It's just a matter of time. I really could care less, so long as we're winning."