Caleb Joseph was back in the Orioles' clubhouse Sunday, talking and joking with teammates as he did before suffering a groin injury in Monday's game against the Boston Red Sox.
Joseph had surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center downtown after the game, restricting him to watching from home for the rest of the week. It was difficult watching his teammates on TV, but he did return with a different perspective.
"Hitting is so much easier on TV than it is here," Joseph quipped. "I feel like I can hit .400 right now."
For now, the only prognosis for Joseph is rest, and the catcher said it's been effective, with some of the pain easing up over the past few days. He went on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday and said that after that time is up, he'll start thinking about resuming activities.
When Joseph took a foul ball to the area, he immediately fell to the ground in pain but stayed in the game — shocking, in hindsight, considering the degree of the injury.
"As a backup, you want to give the starter his day off," Joseph said. "It's just something I guess I've kind of prided myself in for a long time, just trying to stay in the game no matter what. But of course, if it got to a certain point where I felt like I was going to hinder the team at any point, then I would have come out. But I still felt like I could play."
After suffering the injury in the eighth inning, Joseph didn't hit again, though he was one batter away from doing so at the end of the game. Afterward, he met with head trainer Richie Bancells and was taken to the hospital soon thereafter.
The doctors performed the surgery not long after that, a new experience for Joseph.
"It was fine until we decided to have surgery to repair some of the damage that was done and they start telling you worst case scenarios, disclaimers, I think," he said. "That's when you really start thinking, OK, this isn't just, 'They're going in and putting a few stitches in and putting a Band-Aid over it.' Some serious stuff can happen. … It's unique. It frightens you a little bit."
After the surgery, Joseph received support from teammates, fans and observers, among them ESPN analyst John Kruk. Kruk was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1994 after taking an errant pickoff throw to the area the previous season and not reporting it.
The former All-Star reached out to Joseph last week and told him he was smart to go to the trainers after the injury — it may have prevented a similar cancer diagnosis. Joseph encouraged others to do the same thing.
When he does return, Joseph said he's not sure if he'll be gun shy about catching. Showalter thought it was a possibility.
"Let's face it, we're not talking about this injury with outfielders much," he said. "It's kind of like when somebody gets hit in the head with a pitch, that first time up there you've got to kind of get back on the horse."
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