Joey Votto
Joseph Daniel Votto is a Canadian-American former professional baseball first baseman who spent his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds from 2007 to 2023. He was the second Canadian player, following Larry Walker, to have 2,000 hits, 300 home runs, and 1,000 runs batted in in MLB. Votto is a six-time MLB All-Star, a seven-time Tip O'Neill Award winner, and two-time Lou Marsh Trophy winner as Canada's athlete of the year. In 2010, he won the National League Most Valuable Player Award and Hank Aaron Award. Renowned for his plate discipline and ability to get on base, Votto was first in career walks, third in on-base percentage, and fourth in on-base plus slugging among all active players at the time of his retirement during the 2024 season. He is one of two Reds with at least 300 home runs, 1,000 RBI, and 2,000 hits in franchise history, the other being Johnny Bench.
Early life
Votto was born to Wendy and Joseph Votto in Toronto, Ontario, and grew up in the city of Etobicoke. His mother is a sommelier and restaurant manager. His father was a chef and a baseball fan who died at age 52 in 2008. He is of Italian and English descent. As a child, he adorned his wall with a Ted Williams poster.Votto enrolled in high school at Richview Collegiate Institute in 1997. In high school, he also played basketball—playing point guard and once scoring 37 points in a game—and hockey. He played for the Etobicoke Rangers baseball program. After high school, Votto signed a National Letter of Intent to play college baseball for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Professional career
Minor leagues
The Cincinnati Reds selected Votto out of high school in the second round with the 44th overall selection of the 2002 MLB draft. He debuted in Minor League Baseball with the Gulf Coast League Reds in 2002, playing in 50 games. Votto played defensively at third base, catcher, and in left field before primarily playing first base the rest of his career.In 2003, he started the season with the Reds' affiliate Dayton Dragons of the Class A Midwest League, hitting.231 with 1 home run in 60 games. He was demoted to the Billings Mustangs of the Rookie Pioneer League, where he won the only championship of his career and which he later called "one of the favorite stops" of his career. He hit.317 with a.969 on base plus slugging percentage as the Mustangs won the Pioneer League championship.
In 2004, Votto returned to Dayton, hitting 26 doubles and 14 home runs with a batting average of.302 in 111 games. He was promoted in August to the Potomac Cannons of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League and hit five more home runs in 24 games to end the season with 19 home runs. During the 2005 campaign with the Sarasota Reds of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League, he hit 19 home runs but struck out 122 times and his batting average dropped nearly 50 points to.257.
Votto rebounded in 2006 with the best season of his minor league career. Playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class AA Southern League, he improved his batting average to.319, and hit 46 doubles and 22 home runs. He led the Southern League in batting average and total bases and was third in home runs and runs batted in. He was selected to play in the 2006 All-Star Futures Game on the World Team. He was named to both the Mid-Season and Post-Season Southern League All-Star teams, and was voted a minor league all-star by Baseball America. He culminated his season by winning the Southern League Most Valuable Player Award. He often mimicked the batting stances of other baseball players, including Albert Pujols, Barry Bonds, and Todd Helton. During his minor league career, Votto carried Ted Williams' The Science of Hitting with him.
Later that year, Votto also played in the Dominican Winter League for Leones del Escogido during the 2006–2007 season, shortly before starting his major league career.
Cincinnati Reds
2007 season
Votto started the 2007 season playing for the Louisville Bats of the Class AAA International League. The Reds promoted Votto to the major leagues on September 1, 2007. He made his major league debut on September 4, striking out against Guillermo Mota of the New York Mets. On September 5, he hit his first career home run in his second major league at-bat. He went 3-for-5 and scored two runs as the Reds won, 7–0. On September 8, he went 1-for-3 with a home run and three runs batted in. His three RBI were the Reds' only runs as they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4–3. On September 14, he stole his first career base. He ended the season going 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBI in the Cincinnati Reds' final game of the 2007 season on September 30. He finished the season batting.321 with four home runs and 17 RBI. Votto played 6 games in left field, committing one error, in 2007, the most he would play another defensive position besides first base in his career.2008 season
To start the 2008 season, Votto shared time at first base with Scott Hatteberg until manager Dusty Baker began playing Votto as the Reds' starting first baseman before the end of April. On April 15, he hit his first home run of the season off Michael Wuertz. He drove in a career-high five runs against the Cubs two games later. On May 7, Votto hit three home runs in a game against the Chicago Cubs.Votto hit his first career pinch-hit home run against Cleveland's Cliff Lee, who would win the AL Cy Young Award that season. On August 31, Votto had his first career four-hit game against the San Francisco Giants. He knocked in four runs in a 9–3 Reds victory. On September 18, Votto and teammate Jay Bruce each homered twice. They became the fifth rookie teammates in the divisional-era to hit 20 home runs in the same season.
Votto finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting to the Chicago Cubs' Geovany Soto. He led all National League rookies in hitting, hits, home runs, total bases, multi-hit games, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Votto also broke the Reds' record for the most runs batted in by a rookie in a season. The previous record was held by Hall of Fame outfielder Frank Robinson with 83 in 1956. Votto drove in 84 runs during the 2008 season.
2009 season
Votto was the Opening Day starter at first base to begin the 2009 season. In the second game of the season, he went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBI in a loss to the Mets. In the next game against the Mets, he had another homer and four RBI. He had a six-game hitting streak from April 12–18. On April 23, he went 4-for-5 with a home run and 2 runs batted in against the Cubs. He posted a.346 batting average with 3 home runs and 20 RBI in April.Votto opened May with a five-game hitting streak. On May 23, he had two home runs and four RBI in a win over Cleveland. He finished the month with five home runs and a.378 batting average. However, he was placed on the disabled list to open June after missing time in May due to personal issues. He missed 22 of the Reds' games in May and June. Prior to returning to the team, he indicated he had been suffering from depression and anxiety issues as a result of the sudden death of his father in August 2008 and had sought treatment. He had previously missed time because of dizziness related to an inner ear infection.
Votto made his return against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 23. In his third game back, he went 4-for-5 with a home run and four RBI. After going hitless in his fourth game back, he had a 14-game hitting streak. During that stretch, he batted.389 with three home runs and 14 RBI. His hitting streak ended against the Mets on July 12, when he went 0-for-2. Votto was named the NL Player of the Week for September 21–27, 2009, after hitting 10 doubles in a five-game span, a feat not accomplished in 77 years since Hall of Fame outfielder Paul Waner of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1932. Despite missing 31 games, Votto finished the 2009 season among the National League leaders in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, and he hit 25 home runs.
2010 season: NL Most Valuable Player
Votto started the 2010 season by going 3-for-5 with a home run and a run batted in. By the end of April, he had four home runs and 12 RBI. His average was.275, but his on-base percentage was.400 because of 18 bases on balls. In May, he batted.344 with six home runs and 21 runs batted in. However, he missed the last six games that month because of a sore neck. He returned on June 1 in a game against the Cardinals. He went 4-for-5 with a home run and one RBI. The Reds won the game to regain the National League Central Division lead.Votto was not initially voted to the 2010 All-Star game in Anaheim, California, but he made the roster via online fan voting through the National League's Final Vote. He was named on 13.7 million of the 26 million ballots submitted. Votto went 0-for-2 in the game. On August 25, Votto went 4-for-7 with two home runs and four RBI. He also drove in the tie-breaking run with a single off Giants pitcher Barry Zito. Votto was on the cover of Sports Illustrated for its August 30, 2010 edition.
On September 11, Votto hit his first career walk-off home run off Pirates relief pitcher Justin Thomas. For the season, Votto hit.324 with 113 RBI, 106 runs scored and 37 home runs, including a grand slam off Tommy Hanson of the Atlanta Braves on May 20. He finished the season leading the major leagues in on-base percentage and led the National League in slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging. The Reds made the playoffs but lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League Division Series in a three-game sweep. Votto struggled in the series, batting.100 with one run batted in.
Votto won the 2010 Hank Aaron Award in the National League. Votto won the 2010 National League Most Valuable Player Award, coming within one vote of winning unanimously, with Albert Pujols receiving one first-place vote. He was only the third Canadian to win an MVP award, after Larry Walker and Justin Morneau. He became the first Reds player to win the MVP award since Barry Larkin in 1995. "Not to be dramatic or anything, but after I was told, I couldn't help but cry because I know how much at some point this meant to me and would have meant to my father," Votto remarked after being named MVP. He added, "I did some pretty good things, and most importantly, we won. We went to the playoffs—it's been a long time since we'd been to the playoffs—and I think those all together were the reason I won."
In 2016, looking back on his MVP award, Votto told the Cincinnati Enquirer, "Until Trout came into the league, I thought every year that I would be in the conversation for best player in the game. And he fucked that up for everybody. Babe Ruth and Ted Williams included. He’s ruining it for everyone."