Free Joey Votto: One of MLB’s Best Hitters Is Stuck on One of Its Worst Teams

Written by Mikey Jarrell at The Sports Quotient

I have a confession to make: I’ve never watched Joey Votto play baseball. Not in person, not on TV, never.

Let me explain. My baseball fandom is different from most people’s. I grew up without an obvious hometown team, so I tend to follow my favorite players as opposed to just one team. My friends think I’m weird because I have zero rooting interest in any game ever, but I think that this makes me a better fan, allowing me to keep track of the league as a whole.

But that also means I rarely sit down and watch a game. If I do, the matchup had better feature one of my favorite superstars: back in the day it probably would have been Greg Maddux or Ken Griffey Jr., and today maybe it’ll be Zach Greinke or Mike Trout.

So that brings us to today’s topic: Joey Votto. When I saw this amazing video on Reddit recently, I had a minor mental breakdown:

Wait, Votto hits left-handed? That’s his batting stance? Do I even know what his swing looks like? (And this is coming from a guy who’s subscribed to The Batting Stance Guyon YouTube.)

Fearing somebody might revoke my True Baseball Fan membership card, I immediately opened up a new tab in Safari (don’t make fun of me—Safari’s great) and frantically typed “Joey Votto baseball reference” into the search bar.

Huh. He’s pretty good:

Now, I know the power numbers don’t exactly blow you away, especially for a first baseman. But his on-base percentage is actually the 14th best of all time, and Brad Pitt tells us in Moneyball that getting on base is all that matters. I, for one, am willing to believe everything Brad Pitt tells me, but maybe you’re not convinced.

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