Matthew Taylor: RBI-less Joseph shouldn't be defined by statistical quirk

With his wife having given birth to the couple's first child during spring training last season, Caleb Joseph described his added motivation for making the team humorously using the phrase "Baby's gotta eat." Joseph appeared in 100 games for the Orioles in 2015 and acquitted himself well as Matt Wieters recovered from Tommy John surgery. His productive plate appearances often inspired tweets incorporating the hashtag #BabysGottaEat. Little Walker Everett Joseph did not go hungry.

Given Caleb Joseph's struggles in his limited appearances at the dish this season, I offer a new food-related thought for consideration: "Half a loaf is better than none." The proverb, which is an antecedent to the saying "Something is better than nothing," describes for me the reality of the situation that Baltimore's beloved back-up backstop faces as he continues to chase his first RBI of 2016. Ultimately, one RBI is better than none, and Joseph's first will put to rest a narrative that obscures his contributions otherwise.

One lousy RBI, a crumb, a mere morsel of offensive production will end the mentions of a streak that Camden Chat writer Chris Booze placed in proper perspective recently when he described it as "a statistical quirk," a function of poor hitting, sure, but also bad luck. That quirk is garnering attention that risks leaving Joseph's defensive efforts starved for attention.

Baltimore's first back-up catcher was Les Moss, who played briefly for the team after spending several seasons as a member of the St. Louis Browns. Moss tallied his first career RBI when he was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded in 1946. RBIs didn't come easy for Moss from the start, it seems. Moss had five RBI in 126 at-bats for the Orioles in 1954 and went without one for 78 at-bats between June 16, 1954 and April 12, 1955. The precedent for O's catchers had been set.

Rick Dempsey, arguably the team's greatest catcher, produced 10 RBIs in his first 174 at-bats as an Oriole in 1976, and 15 RBI in 251 at-bats in 1981. He had an RBI-less streak of 83 at-bats for the Orioles between July 25, 1978 and Aug. 21, 1978. Dempsey's run of futility, like Moss' before him, started several games into the schedule. Joseph's streak is more obvious since it's 0-for-the-season.

I'm anticipating a fun end to Joseph's drought. I picture him delivering a clutch hit in a critical spot to earn his first RBI of 2016. It would make for a good story, just as Nolan Reimold's walk-off homer did on Sunday. That broke an 0-for-16 slump for Reimold and provided him with his first leisurely jog around the base paths since May 29. Even if Joseph's first RBI isn't in a critical spot, it will at least put an end to the story.

The home runs that Joseph hit in five consecutive games during his rookie season didn't define him as a player. Neither should this current streak.

Matthew Taylor blogs about the Orioles at Roar from 34. Follow him on Twitter: @RoarFrom34. His ruminations about the Birds appear as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our site. 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.