Roughly 16 months ago, in May of 2015, Tommy Joseph suffered another concussion. The then-23-year-old catcher had played in 111 games for minor league clubs in the Phillies organization since arriving less than three years prior in the trade that sent Hunter Pence to San Francisco, and his ability to play in many more seemed very much in doubt.
At least three concussions, plus the post-concussion symptoms that followed, plus wrist surgery had robbed Joseph of precious developmental time and necessitated his move to first base. It was less about skill - when Joseph was catching, he had thrown out 32 percent of would-be thieves and had shown improvement in receiving - and more about prolonging Joseph's life.