Joey Votto: Canadian for Awesome

by Slyde on Apr 28, 2009 2:48 PM EDT in Features

I've been browsing through the data trying to find hope for Brandon Phillips and Edwin Encarnacion and all I was finding is despair. So, to cheer myself up, I decided to check out how totally super fantastic Joey Votto has been. Let me tell you, he's been really totally super humongously fantastic!

Let's start with the basics:

He's 2nd in the NL in batting average at .378. The last Reds hitter to bat over .350 in April was Sean Casey, who hit .414 in April of 2004.
He's 9th in the NL in OBP (.439) and 6th in Slugging (.622). The only player that ranks ahead of him both categories is Albert Pujols (.457/.681), though he's only 8th in the league in OPS (1.061).
He's second in the league in hits (28), doubles (9), and RBI (20).
Somehow, he's only been intentionally walked once. Even more strange is the fact that he's had a higher percentages of pitches thrown in the strike zone to him (48.9%) than any other Reds regular besides Ramon Hernandez (52.0%). Keep challenging him, opposing pitchers! Please!
He leads the Majors in RBI Percentage (i.e. the percentage of base runners driven in) at 34%.

How's he doing it? Mainly by hitting everything hard and by using the entire field.

As you can see, Votto is hardly pulling anything to right field. When he does, it's usually only the ground, with a few pop ups. The more impressive thing though is that the majority of what he is hitting is going to the outfield, and when it gets to the outfield, it's basically a hit. Some of this is luck, but Votto is definitely hitting the ball hard (28% line drive rate is top 10 in the league).

So, huzzah for Joey! You're the only reason for hope when the Reds come to bat right now. Keep it up!

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Comments

Wow, just wow

Dude is ridiculous.

It’s only a matter of time before pitchers realize there is a black hole batting behind him and he starts getting nothing to hit.

Isn't there a slanket somewhere you should be filling with your farts?

by nycredsfan on Apr 28, 2009 2:57 PM EDT reply actions

That's racist

by ThePensive on Apr 28, 2009 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

racist and true

If Dickerson can bat second in front of Votto (two lefties), then why can’t we have Bruce bat after him atleast when Dickerson is out of the lineup? I wouldn’t dare suggest three lefties in a row. I don’t understand how Dusty can use the “splitting up the lefties” answer when he doesn’t really follow it. Especially with Votto, considering he hits lefties fairly well (.862 OPS).
And I know the response is probably just going to be the picture of Dusty making that face, but I just can’t help myself.

by Who's on First? on Apr 28, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions

You're a quick study.

We’re doing an excellent job pushing this toward the top of the GIS results.

tellin' tales of drunkenness and cruelty

by Colin Auscapee on Apr 28, 2009 4:43 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

And there it is

by Who's on First? on Apr 28, 2009 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions

but why does he have that look?

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 28, 2009 4:58 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

That's a good one too.

by Who's on First? on Apr 28, 2009 4:59 PM EDT up reply actions

re: "the only reason for hope when the Reds come to bat right now."

“I’ll cut you, Slyde.”

"I wanna listen to Elephants Gerald."

by Fat Vegas Alan on Apr 28, 2009 3:04 PM EDT reply actions

I'm not familiar with that guy

Who is he again?

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 28, 2009 3:09 PM EDT up reply actions

The realest to run it

by Brendanukkah on Apr 28, 2009 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Interesting

It looks like Votto isn’t just a good opposite field hitter, he’s a great one and because of his strength he’s able to still generate tremendous power. That’s also why, despite how great he’s been hitting so far, he’s hitting a ton of doubles and less homers. When he’s been pulling the ball this year he seems to have pounded the ball into the ground quite a bit, and if he improves that, I think we’ll see an even better Joey Votto at the plate. Right now he’s probably a 25 homer, 45 double type hitter, and if he begins to pull mistake pitches 400 feet away like Bruce has already proven potent it wouldn’t surprise me to see a .310 hitter with 40 homers a year.

And Jay Bruce has been every bit as exciting as Joey Votto so far. He’s at .271/.348/.576 so far and he got off to a crappy start. His K/BB ratio is actually better than Votto’s, he’s shown more homerun power, he has been outstanding in the field (5.6 UZR so far this year — twice as good as any other Reds player. The outfield defense really has been pretty good so far this year, with Taveras playing above average defense in center and Dickerson playing about average in left, with above average range but a few errors holding him back), and there’s every reason to expect him to get even better in the future.

There are only a few groups of two young hitters on any team that compare to the Reds twosome. Ethier/Kemp, Hermida/Ramirez, and Longoria/Upton are pretty nice, but I think they’re a step below. Fielder/Braun and Kinsler/Hamilton are right there with the Reds.

by Geki on Apr 28, 2009 3:56 PM EDT reply actions

I'd like

someone to explain how he was able to groundout in foul territory

by sharks on Apr 28, 2009 5:22 PM EDT reply actions

not sure

It was at Minute Maid Park. And a week later, the Brewers had a ground out to the exact same spot. Those points are entered manually, so I imagine it is user error, but it is weird, especially since the ball was fielded by the 2nd baseman.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 28, 2009 5:35 PM EDT up reply actions

2nd baseman huh

must’ve been one hell of a play

by sharks on Apr 28, 2009 5:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Votto will soon get nothing to hit unless BP gets hia bat in gear...but ots looking better every day for Brandon

i’m amazed that Votto and Bruce have done as well as they have…we know BP is going to get going but Gawd only nose when EdE is going to stop stinking up the place. Right now I’d prefer the following batting scheme

T-virus – CF
Cherry – LF
Bruce RF
Votto !B
BP 2B
Rosales 3B
Hernanadez C
Gonzo SS
Micah
The first 2 batters are iffy…if they get on then with Bruce and Votto coming up Havoc will arise fer sher
Bruce would get more and better pitches to hit with Votto behind him
And as BP is warming up Joey will have to be pitched to as well
If Rosales can hit at 75% of what he was doing at AAA he’ll be a godsend. it doesn’t matter who is behind BP as he’s gonna swing at what he want to anyway
Hernia seems to be heating up and can be some protection for Rosy
and Who Knows what gonzo will do…hopefully wake up and start hitting

I wonder if Dusty ever thinks about the concept of batters protecting the batter in front of them in the line up..that was a major consideration for how to set a lineup for Sparky.

I want to be there when a trailer full of coffins slams into a an ambulance full of terminally ill Bolivians. Or when the Reds win a WS..whichever comes first....

by Madville on Apr 29, 2009 2:49 AM EDT reply actions