Once again, Joey Votto takes the vote hands-down. He garnered 42% of the vote last week, earning him the title of Red o' the Week for a second consecutive week and his third overall this year. This little diddle here was purposefully modeled as a weekly award to discuss stupendous feats within small sample sizes. But I feel compelled to mention that since the beginning of May, Joey Votto has an on-base percentage of .500. That's 156 PAs and 78 times on base. For the season, he leads the league in doubles, walks, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Good golly.
But enough of all that. It's only going to unfairly sway your votes for this week's award. So remember, concerning this award, we are only worried about what these fellas have over the last week. But yeah, even then you're probably going to vote for Votto.
Anyway, here are the players you should consider for the best Reds performer in the tenth week of the season:
Joey Votto
For the week, Votto slashed .417/.481/.708 with five extra-base hits. That's actually a bit off the pace he's set over the last month+. Another astounding fact about Joey Votto: You know, he's earned a nomination for this award in every week this season, except for one (that was the first "week" of the season, which was only the first four games) and that is a real testament to his consistency. He really never has more than one bad day in a row. In fact, for his entire career, the longest stretch of games he's gone without getting on base is three. That's it. On two separate occasions, Votto has gone three games without getting on base.
Jay Bruce
The Bruiser got to first base so often this week that people started to mistake him for Richard Dawson. Four singles and seven walks added to two extra-base hits made for an impressive 1.008 OPS. He also swiped a bag. Bruce is heating up with the weather, so let's all hope the trend continues.
Todd Frazier
The Toddfather is making a name for himself as something of a clutch performer. He added another eight runs batted in to his season line this past week, punctuated by his four-rib performance on Sunday. He OPS'd .890 for the week with a stolen base and two more extra-base hits. He took over at 3B for the injured Scott Rolen on May 12th, and if you extend his performance since then over a full season then he projects for 83 extra-base hits. That's really good and stuff.
Zack Cozart
It is such a relief to see Cozart getting on base and scoring runs from the lead-off spot. He crossed the plate five times this past week and posted an OBP of .379. He also stole a base and capitalized the first letter in a proper name (worst home run euphemism yet).
So there you have it, your nominations for week 10. No pitchers this week, which is probably why the team went 2-4 and is now tied with the Pirates for 1st place. Get a-votin', y'all.