Joshua William Paul (born May 19, 1975) is a retired American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

and professional

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. He most recently served as the quality control coach for the Detroit Tigers of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). He played in MLB for the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

, Chicago Cubs, and

Tampa Bay Devil Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home ve ...

. He also coached the Angels and

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

Playing career

Amateur

Paul attended

Buffalo Grove High School Buffalo Grove High School (BGHS) is a public high school located in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago. It is one of six four-year comprehensive high schools in Township High School District 214, serving portions of the village ...

Buffalo Grove, Illinois Buffalo Grove, officially the Village of Buffalo Grove, is a village in Lake and Cook County, Illinois. A suburb of Chicago, it lies about northwest of Downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 Census, Buffalo Grove has a population of 43,212. It tot ...

, and

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, where he played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's teams), 14 of which compete at the National ...

. In 1995, he played collegiate summer baseball for the

Cotuit Kettleers The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the lea ...

of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). He hit .364 to lead the league, and was named the league's MVP and outstanding pro prospect. Paul was inducted into the CCBL Hall of Fame in 2006.

Professional

The

selected Paul in the 1996 MLB draft. He made his major league debut in 1999 and played for the White Sox until he was granted his outright release in . He was signed by the Chicago Cubs, but was again released in October of the same year. The

Anaheim Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

signed him in . He was traded after the season to the Devil Rays for minor league third baseman Travis Schlichting. After starting catcher

Toby Hall Toby Jason Hall (born October 21, 1975) is an American former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2000 to 2008, primarily with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Listed at and , he batted and threw right-handed. ...

was traded to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

Dioner Navarro Dioner Favian Navarro Vivas (born February 9, 1984) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs, Ch ...

came to Tampa Bay as the Devil Rays' main catcher. Paul was limited to 35 games in because of hand and elbow injuries. On February 1, , the Rays signed Paul to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. After failing to make the team, Paul was released and signed with the Houston Astros on April 6. On June 14, Paul was released by the Astros. In his nine-year major league career he batted .244/.303/.341 with 10 home runs and 5 stolen bases. Paul, who lost a friend in the

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

attacks, was a proponent of playing games scheduled on September 11, 2002.

Post-playing career

In December 2008, the

named Paul as the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

of the

Staten Island Yankees The Staten Island Yankees were a minor league baseball team located in the New York City borough of Staten Island from 1999 to 2020. Nicknamed the "Baby Bombers", the Yankees were the Class A Short Season affiliate of the New York Yankees and pla ...

, their minor league affiliate in the

Class A-Short Season Class A Short Season (officially Short-Season A) was a level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States from 1965 through 2020. In the hierarchy of minor league classifications, it was below Triple-A, Double-A, Class A-Advanced (cre ...

New York-Penn League. Paul served as interim bullpen coach for the

in 2010 while

Dave Eiland David William Eiland (born July 5, 1966) is an American former professional baseball player who was a pitcher for ten Major League Baseball seasons. Eiland played college baseball for the University of Florida and the University of South Florida, ...

was away from the team for personal reasons. From 2014 through 2017, Paul served as the Yankees' minor league catching coordinator. The Angels hired Paul as their bench coach after the 2017 season. The Tigers hired Paul as their quality control coach prior to the 2020 season, a position he served in until being dismissed following the 2022 season. On September 22, 2020, the Tigers added interim bench coach to his duties when

Ron Gardenhire Ronald Clyde Gardenhire (born October 24, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played as a shortstop for the New York Mets from 1981 through 1985. After another year playing in the minor leagues, he se ...

suddenly retired and bench coach

Lloyd McClendon Lloyd Glenn McClendon (born January 11, 1959) is an American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as an outfielder from 1987 to 1994 for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Seattle Mariners and the ...

was promoted to interim manager.

Personal life

Josh's younger brother, Jeremy, is also a baseball player.

References

External links

Boston.com news article
:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Josh 1975 births Living people Anaheim Angels players Baseball coaches from Illinois Baseball players from Chicago Birmingham Barons players Chicago Cubs players Chicago White Sox players Charlotte Knights players Cotuit Kettleers players Detroit Tigers coaches Gulf Coast White Sox players Hickory Crawdads players Iowa Cubs players Los Angeles Angels coaches Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim coaches Major League Baseball bench coaches Major League Baseball catchers Minor league baseball managers Montgomery Biscuits players New York Yankees scouts Round Rock Express players Salt Lake Stingers players Sportspeople from Chicago Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Tampa Bay Devil Rays players Vero Beach Devil Rays players Winston-Salem Warthogs players Vanderbilt Commodores baseball players