I wrote a feature on Orioles rookie starter Brian Matusz that ran in Sunday's newspaper, and I simply didn't have enough space to get in all the stuff that people said about him or even the stories that the pitcher and his friends and family members told. One that didn't make it into the article and certainly deserves sharing involved catching prospect Caleb Joseph.While much has been made of Matusz's friendship with fellow young pitcher Chris Tillman -- and rightly so, because the two are quite amusing together -- Matusz and Joseph also struck up a close friendship while they were teammates last year at Single-A Frederick. And Matusz credited Joseph for keeping things in perspective for him last year as the pitcher awaited his call to the big leagues.
Matusz tells the story much better than I can.
"We were at Kinston and I was sitting in the dugout and I was like, 'Caleb, gosh, I just can't wait to play in the big leagues.' And he said, 'Brian, look at this, we're at a minor league game, getting paid to play baseball, and look at all these fans who came here to watch us play.' I said, 'Wow caleb, that's a good outlook.' He said, 'Brian, we're going to remember this story and be laughing about it when we are both sitting in a big league dugout, thinking about how miserable it was in the minor leagues and the bus rides and all of the things like that.'
'Caleb had such a great outlook on it. Being in the minors obviously isn't the most glamorous thing, but to him, it was amazing. It really opened up my eyes and allowed me to have fun in the minors while the ultimate goal was still to be in the big leagues. Caleb and I still talk about that story. We talked about it a lot this spring.'
-- Jeff Zrebiec