Joshua William Paul (born May 19, 1975 in Evanston, Illinois) is a Major League Baseball catcher for the Tampa Bay Rays organization. After being selected by the Chicago White Sox in the amateur draft in , Paul was a back-up catcher from 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 signed him in . He was traded in late to the Devil Rays for minor league third baseman Travis Schlichting.
According to commentator Tim McCarver, Paul is writing a book about pitch selection. According to Rays' broadcaster Joe Magrane an entire chapter will be devoted to Seth McClung, a temperamental hard thrower with control issues; Paul was McClung's personal catcher during the season. After McClung was sent to the minor leagues to be converted to closing and Devil Rays starting catcher Toby Hall was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Dioner Navarro 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 invite to spring training.
Paul, who lost a friend in the September 11, 2001 attacks, also had a brief brush with fame as a proponent of playing games scheduled on September 11, .
Paul is most famous for his involvement in a controversial play in Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS versus the Chicago White Sox. In the bottom of the ninth, with the score tied at 1, Paul was catching Angels reliever Kelvim Escobar. There were two outs and nobody on base. After Chicago's A. J. Pierzynski swung and missed a third strike in the dirt, Paul, believing he had caught the ball, began walking back to the dugout along with the rest of his team. However, home plate umpire Doug Eddings ruled that the ball had not been caught and Pierzynski ran to first, where he was called safe. Pinch runner Pablo Ozuna stole second and later scored on Joe Crede's game winning double, tying the ALCS at 1 game apiece. The White Sox went on to take the next 3 games and go on to the World Series.
