Starting with this piece on Cincinnati Reds star 1st baseman Joey Votto, I’ll be taking a look prior to each Phillies series at a key player on the opposition side. Sometimes it will be a key superstar, sometimes a scorching hot player, sometimes it may just be someone with an interesting story to tell.
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Following a forgettable 2014 campaign in which he missed more than half the year with a quadriceps injury, Votto has returned in 2015 with a vengeance, and is off to a good start through the first two months of the season.
Sporting a .282 batting average, Votto has blasted 9 home runs and has 24 RBI through 48 games played. Now he leads the Cincinnati Reds in to Philadelphia for a three game series starting Tuesday night at Citizens Bank Park. The Reds are fresh off a 3- game series sweep of the NL East-leading Washington Nationals.
The 2015 season hasn’t gone the way the Reds had hoped so far, as the team currently sits in 4th place in the NL Central with a 22-27 record. But Votto’s personal resurgence has been a welcome sight for Reds fans. Playing just 62 games last year due to a distal strain in his left quadriceps, Votto struggled mightily from the start until he was finally placed on the disabled list on July 8th. He was reluctant to talk about the injury when pressed on the issue during his time on the disabled list, leading many people to question the severity of his injury.
Batting a career-worst .255 with just 6 home runs and 23 RBI in his shortened 2014, the 31-year-old Votto has already eclipsed both of those stats totals in 14 fewer games played thus far in 2015. Most importantly, he also looks and feels healthy again.
Drafted by the Reds in the 2nd round of the 2002 Amateur Draft out of Richview Collegiate Institute (equivalent to a US high school) in Etobicoke, Ontario, Votto made his major-league debut on September 4, 2007 at the age of 23.
In his first full season in the big leagues in 2008, Votto hit .297, mashing 24 homers and driving in 84 on his way to finishing 2nd in the NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Chicago Cubs catcher Geovany Soto.
From 2009 to 2013, Votto never hit below .300 in a season. He was selected to the National League All-Star team 4 out of those 5 years. Following his incredible 2010 season during which he batted .324, belted 37 home runs and drove in 113 runs, Votto captured the National League Most Valuable Player Award. If those gaudy numbers weren’t enough, Votto also led the league in slugging percentage and on-base percentage that year.
As one of the biggest stars in the game, Votto quickly became the face of the Reds, and the organization made sure things would remain that way. In April of 2012, Votto agreed to a 12-year, $251.5 million contract with the team. The contract was the biggest in Reds history, and was also the longest guaranteed contract in MLB history at the time.
Looking to put 2014 behind him, Votto and 3rd baseman Todd Frazier have provided much of the production in a Reds lineup that has for the most part been anemic in 2015. Centerfielder Billy Hamilton has been a major disappointment with the bat, as have outfielders Jay Bruce and Marlon Byrd, the latter acquired by the Reds from the Phillies over the off-season. Votto leads the team in on-base percentage at a .383 clip.
Though the Reds slugger enters this series having gone a pedestrian 13 for his last 56 (.232 average), he has hit 2 of his 9 home runs in the Reds’ three weekend games against Washington. Overall, Votto went 4 for 10 with three walks in that Washington series.
The Phillies’ Sean O’Sullivan starts on Tuesday night, against whom Votto has 1 hit in 3 at-bats. O’Sullivan is coming off his worst start of the season in a game against the New York Mets when he gave up 7 runs on 11 hits (including four home runs) in 5.2 innings pitched.
Votto also will face Phillies ace Cole Hamels during the series, a pitcher Votto has has yet to find success against, having just a pair of hits in 14 career at-bats against the southpaw. In the last game on Thursday night, Votto will face former Reds’ teammate Aaron Harang. In a small sample size of just 6 at-bats, Votto has 3 hits, 3 walks and 2 RBI vs the Phillies’ righthander.
With the injury-filled 2014 now in his rearview mirror, Joey Votto has come back strong and is out to prove that last season was a fluke instead of a sign of things to come. Votto’s bat should warm up even more as we enter the summer months. He could especially be looking to break out in this series against a team in the midst of a 7-game losing streak.
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