Joseph Caleb Odom (born January 9, 1992) is an 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 professiona ...

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 cat ...

who is currently a free agent. He previously played in

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 (A ...

(MLB) for the Mariners and

Tampa Bay 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 v ...

Career

Odom attended

Vestavia Hills High School Vestavia Hills High School. Vestavia Hills High School (VHHS), founded in 1970, is a public high school in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, USA. It is part of the Vestavia Hills City Schools. History The land was acqu ...

Vestavia Hills, Alabama Vestavia Hills, colloquially known simply as Vestavia, is a city in Jefferson and Shelby counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a suburb of Birmingham and it is made up of Vestavia, Liberty Park, and Cahaba Heights. As of the 2020 census ...

. He played for the school's baseball team as a

, serving as a defensive replacement. He did not begin to start for Vestavia Hills until he lost weight in his junior year. He graduated from Vestavia Hills in 2010, and enrolled at

Huntingdon College Huntingdon College is a private Methodist college in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1854 as a women's college. History Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854, as " Tuskegee Female College" by the Alabama State Legislatu ...

, where 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 pl ...

for the

Huntingdon Hawks Huntingdon College is a private Methodist college in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1854 as a women's college. History Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854, as " Tuskegee Female College" by the Alabama State Legislature ...

. In 2013, he had a .369 batting average and led all of

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their ...

with 14

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

Atlanta Braves

The

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in ...

selected Odom in the 13th round of the

2013 MLB draft The 2013 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2013. The first two rounds were broadcast from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. Each team received one selection per round, going in ...

. After he signed with Atlanta, he played in Minor League Baseball at the Rookie-level, before receiving a promotion to the

Lynchburg Hillcats The Lynchburg Hillcats are a Minor League Baseball team in Lynchburg, Virginia that plays in the Carolina League and is the Single-A affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. They were a farm team of the Atlanta Braves from 2011 to 2014, the Cincinna ...

of the

Class A-Advanced High-A (officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing) is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A and Double-A, and abov ...

Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 un ...

in 2014. He spent the 2015 season with the

Carolina Mudcats The Carolina Mudcats are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers. They are located in Zebulon, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and play their home games at Five County Stadium. ...

of the Carolina League in 2015, and was invited by the Braves to

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

as a non-roster player in 2016.

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners selected Odom from the Braves in the minor league portion of the 2017 Rule 5 draft. The Mariners promoted Odom to the MLB for the first time on July 28, 2020. He made his MLB debut that night. Odom was outrighted off of the 40-man roster on October 19, 2020.

Tampa Bay Rays

On December 16, 2020, Odom signed a minor league contract with the

organization. On April 3, 2021, Odom was selected to the 40-man roster to take the roster spot of Ryan Sherriff, who had been placed on the restricted list. On April 9, Odom was designated for assignment after Hunter Strickland was added to the roster. In his time with Tampa, he registered two hitless at-bats. On April 12, Odom was outrighted to the alternate training site. On October 16, 2021, Odom elected free agency.

Seattle Mariners (second stint)

On March 28, 2022, Odom signed a minor league contract with the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

organization. He was released on August 17, 2022.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Odom, Joseph 1992 births Living people Arkansas Travelers players Baseball players from Birmingham, Alabama Carolina Mudcats players Danville Braves players Durham Bulls players Gulf Coast Braves players Gwinnett Braves players Huntingdon Hawks athletes Lynchburg Hillcats players Major League Baseball catchers Mississippi Braves players Peoria Javelinas players Seattle Mariners players Tacoma Rainiers players Tampa Bay Rays players