Blue Jays: Caleb Joseph gets some help from the new rules

Toronto Blue Jays catcher Caleb Joseph’s chances of playing on the big league roster improved

Baseball is finally back!!! Yesterday, the players agreed to the health and safety protocols set out by MLB which was the final hurdle from Rob Manfred unilaterally implementing a 60 game season.

With a shortened season, it’s the right time to experiment with new rules. This will allow the game to test out some tweaks to determine what should be done with baseball going forward. Rule changes are being implemented in all different aspects which include roster structure, schedule, on-field issues, and other things that make up the game of baseball.

In regards to the roster, the season will start out with 30 players on the major league roster. Once the season has been going on for two weeks, two players will have to be left of the team to make it 28 and once a month passes, another two players will be removed from the roster to get to the original roster size of 26.

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One perk that MLB has implemented for the shortened season is that on road trips, teams are allowed to carry three taxi squad players. If teams decide to bring a taxi squad, one of the three players has to be a catcher. Caleb Joseph must be a happy man.

In the offseason, the Blue Jays signed Joseph as catching depth who would be the Jays catcher at AAA Buffalo and would be called up to the big leagues in case one of Danny Jansen or Reese McGuire go down with an injury.

Joseph was a needed signing as the Jays didn’t have a major league calibre catcher if something happened to Jansen or McGuire. While the Jays notably have strong organizational catching depth which includes four catchers ranked as top 30 prospects, none of them would be ready to play at the major league level if needed to be.

With no minor league season in 2020, Joseph was in danger of not playing ball this year but the taxi squad rule gives him a good chance to see himself in a Jays uniform.

Joseph is a career .223/.270/.350 hitter. In 2016, he entrenched himself in the record books by not getting a single RBI that season.