The Red Report: Joey Votto

Joey Votto

#19 / First Base / Cincinnati Reds

Height: 6-3

Weight: 220

Bats: L

Throws: R

Born: Sep 10, 1983

Fast Facts:

• Joseph Daniel Votto was born on September 10, 1983 in Toronto, Canada. He grew up in the western Etobicoke section of the city. Votto attended high school at Richview Collegiate Institute in Toronto. The school had produced Prime Minister Stephen Harper and hockey star Scott Mellanby.

• Votto's adopted mastiff-golden retriever mix is named "Maris," after former baseball player Roger Maris.
• His love for baseball can be traced back to the 1993 World Series, when Joe Carter hit the game-winning home-run to bring Toronto its 2nd consecutive World Series title, as Joey describes in the most awkward interview he's ever been part of.

• On the day Votto signed with the Reds he purchased a copy of "The Science of Hitting," by Ted Williams.

• He made his MLB debut on September 4th 2007, just one week before his 24th birthday.
  
• In 2009, Votto spent nearly a month on the DL due to "stress related issues," caused by the death of his father. Later that year Votto provided the following quote regarding the ordeal: "He was the first one to teach me how to play baseball... I played catch with him on a daily basis when I was real young. He was a big fan, he was just in love with what I did and me. He was a great father to me."
• During Votto's MVP season in 2010, he didn't record a single out via an infield pop-up.

Organizational History:

Drafted/Signed: by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 2002 amateur draft.
Player signed June 5th, 2002

Contract Status:

MLB Service Time: 5.027
Current Contract Status: 13 yr/$263M (2011-2023) with a team option for 2024 ($20M, $7M buyout)

Career Stats:

Scouting:

Ratings via TheBaseballCube:

Speed: 43
Contact: 36
Patience: 88
Batting: 79
Power: 83

Votto receives remarkably high scores for patience, batting and power - no surprise there. You may be surprised by the contact score at 36. That's likely because "contact" is a bit misleading. They calculate contact by measuring the player's strikeouts per plate appearance. Votto does strikeout more than most players, so the below average contact score is accurate.

Defense:

Fans Scouting Report ratings (via Fangraphs) (2012 rating/career rating):

Instincts: 71/66
First Step: 59/57
Speed: 50/50
Hands: 74/65
Release: 61/58
Arm Strength: 54/49
Arm Accuracy: 60/55
Overall: 61/57
FSR (Fans Scouting Report runs above average): 4/13

UZR/150 in 2012: 7.5

2013 Projections:

PITCHf/x Hitter Profile: