Matt Kremnitzer: Joseph has been a pleasant surprise in 2015

Heading into the 2014 season, Caleb Joseph was a few months from turning 28, yet he'd never played in a single major league game. But early in the season, Matt Wieters was placed on the disabled list with an elbow injury, and soon was lost for the season. Steve Clevenger made the club out of spring training as the team's backup catcher, but it quickly became evident that the Orioles didn't think he was suitable for even part-time catching duty. Joseph was promoted to the majors on May 7, and a few weeks later the Orioles shipped Troy Patton to the San Diego Padres for Nick Hundley. Days later, Clevenger was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Joseph remained.

Clevenger appeared occasionally later in the season, but it was nothing resembling any kind of regular role. Instead, Joseph and Hundley shared the catching work. Neither was good offensively - Joseph had a 72 wRC+ in 275 plate appearances while Hundley posted a 73 wRC+ in 174. But Joseph also did something Hundley did not: He excelled defensively. Having come up through the minors with many of the pitchers on the O's staff, Joseph was more than familiar with them. He also showcased a strong arm and helped cut down on opposing teams' ability to steal bases. And he surprised many by demonstrating adept pitch framing skills in his 670-plus innings behind the plate.

Joseph's defensive prowess seemed to shock the Orioles. It certainly surprised fans, many of whom wondered why he had never been promoted before and if he could be more than organizational filler. Joseph was known more for his bat in previous minor league seasons, and he even played 28 combined games in 2013 for Double-A Bowie at first base and in left field instead of sticking mostly behind the plate. He was no longer labeled as the team's catcher of the future. But he was still in the organization, and he could catch.

With Wieters on the mend, Joseph was presented with an opportunity and has more than held down the fort. Last year, out of 34 major league catchers who received at least 250 plate appearances, Joseph tied for last in wRC+ and his .264 on-base percentage was second worst. But so far this season, he has hit much better. In about half of the plate appearances he had last season, his batting line has jumped from .207/.264/.354 in 2014 to .269/.360/.417 in 2015. Among all catchers who have received at least 100 plate appearances, he ranks seventh in wRC+. Part of that improvement is fueled by an 80-point increase in his batting average on balls in play, but he's also doubled his walk rate, cut down on his strikeouts and chased fewer pitches outside the strike zone. He's also hitting the ball harder: About 30 percent of his batted balls were classified as hard hits last season versus 35 percent of the time this year.

Joseph hasn't been nearly as masterful at cutting down opposing base stealers this season (40 percent in 2014 versus 27 percent in 2015), but he's still rated well as a pitch framer. Pitch framing data improves each season, and its importance is no longer being overlooked. It's also worth noting that Wieters underwhelms as a pitch framer.

Wieters is set to begin his injury rehab assignment today at Bowie, and he could be activated sometime in early June. His return will undoubtedly be welcomed. But it's also unclear how much he'll be able to play and how much he'll resemble the healthy Wieters of years past. On top of that, he's scheduled to hit the free agent market after this season.

How well both Joseph and Wieters play the rest of the season will both factor heavily into what the O's eventually decide to do with Wieters. The Orioles will surely extend Wieters the qualifying offer, but no player has ever accepted the lucrative one-year offer. Wieters is also a Scott Boras client. So if Wieters is looking for a huge payday despite some injury concerns and up-and-down play at times, he probably won't be back.

But for now, the positive development is that Joseph continues to impress, and he's also under team control for several more seasons. Even if Joseph's offensive success vanishes in the next few weeks and months, the O's will have a cheap option at least as a serviceable backup for the foreseeable future as long as his defensive skills don't crater. At worst, Joseph could be the bridge to the major league readiness of prospects Chance Sisco or Jonah Heim. At best, he could provide similar value to Wieters at much less cost.

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.