Matt Kremnitzer: Investigating Caleb Joseph's offensive improvement

Caleb Joseph has already demonstrated that he's an effective defensive catcher. He was very good in part-time duty last year, displaying a strong, accurate arm and very good pitch-framing abilities.

In 78 games in 2014, Joseph finished with a Defensive Runs Saved total of +8 and threw out 40 percent of baserunners. In 76 games this year, he's dropped to +4 and 32 percent, respectively, though the DRS total is still top 20 among all major league catchers. Joseph also again ranks well in pitch-framing metrics. Matt Wieters, meanwhile, fares poorly in pitch framing and overall defense (-7 DRS). According to DRS data, Wieters hasn't rated above average defensively since 2012 (+5).

Wieters' amount of games and innings behind the plate dwarfs Joseph's total, so it may still be a bit unclear how good Joseph is. He was also essentially viewed as a failed prospect until Wieters injured his elbow early last season and the Orioles needed a catcher. It may be unfair to judge Wieters completely considering he's not fully back to where he was after undergoing Tommy John surgery last year; and anyway, this isn't a Wieters-bashing segment. But Joseph does appear to be the best defensive catcher on the O's roster.

But is Joseph also improving offensively? In an April post for Camden Depot, Ryan Romano noted Joseph's progress in the plate discipline department. It's now late August, and that trend has continued. Joseph is walking more, striking out less, swinging at fewer pitches outside the strike zone and making a bit more contact on all pitches.

What's really helped Joseph is about a 30-point bump in batting average on balls in play from 2014 to 2015 (.246 to .275). But what's odd is that he's not hitting the ball harder this season; his percentage of hard-hit balls is nearly identical to last season. He also has fewer hits categorized as medium-hit balls and more as soft ones. And this is a big reason why:

2014: 48 pull percentage; 18 oppo percentage
2015: 37 pull percentage ; 28 oppo percentage

So that drastic change in pulling the ball is somewhat strange. It's also something that can happen over a span of about 560 plate appearances, which is about how many Joseph has accumulated in the big leagues. It's already hard enough to figure out how good some everyday players are, let alone ones who play every other day.

Joseph's power is clearly to left field, where he's hit nearly all of his home runs. But it's hard not to compare last season's spray chart to this year's, and not see the increase in both hard-hit balls to right field and also pop-outs to shallow right.

He's still being thrown about the same amount of pitches on the outer half as last season, so it's not like pitchers thought they identified a weakness. But Joseph is still hitting balls harder to right field than last year. And that has seemingly helped in some better batted-ball fortune, which can be the difference between a below average offensive season and a decent to useful one.

Joseph recently discussed his 2015 batting approach, which mostly included a bunch of clichés: "Just trying not to do too much. ... Stay within a routine. ... Just keep it simple, not overswing and have good at-bats. Be selective and have a plan and really execute it. Try not to give away at-bats."

Hey, whatever works.

With a 105 wRC+, Joseph is 11th among catchers with more than 250 plate appearances. He still hasn't played enough for fans to expect the same level of offensive production in future seasons, but it's probably fair to believe he's somewhere between 2014 and 2015. And when factoring in the good defense, years of team control, and inexpensive salary, the O's losing Wieters in free agency seems a lot less catastrophic.

Matt Kremnitzer blogs about the Orioles at Camden Depot. Follow him on Twitter: @mattkremnitzer. His thoughts on the O's appear here as part of MASNsports.com's continuing commitment to welcome guest bloggers to our little corner of cyberspace. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.