BRADENTON, Fla. -- Caleb Joseph hadn't had that feeling for more than a season. After going 132 Major League at-bats in 2016 without an RBI, Joseph homered on Thursday night against the New York Yankees' Adam Warren.
Even though it was Spring Training, and doesn't count, the 30-year-old backup catcher enjoyed the moment thoroughly.
"It counted to me. It's in the box score, right?" Joseph said. "Nice to see the fruits of the labor come out."
Joseph had 11 home runs and 49 RBIs in 2015, and last year had 66 RBI-less at-bats before a scary testicular injury on May 30 and 66 more after he returned in early July.
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"A lot of stuff that I was really working on last year is just kind of falling into place, when I couldn't put it together. I had the pieces of the puzzle and that by no means is to say you're going to hit a home run every game, but confidence is really high right now because those pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit together. They may not fit every time, but I've got 80 percent of the puzzle now, and feeling really good about it," Joseph said.
There wasn't any doubt that it was a home run.
"Honestly, when I hit them like that, I literally don't even feel the ball on the bat, but I knew right away," Joseph said. "My first thought was, 'OK, what's the proper jogging speed?' Because it's been so long. You don't want to go too fast, but you also don't want to go too slow. That really was what was going through my mind.
"I knew it was out, and I was like, 'Hold on, how do I do this? How do I jog? What's the proper miles-per-hour on this?'"