Joey Votto announced his retirement with that Instagram post tonight.
He has had an incredible career and seems a genuinely good dude.
He has spent this season either hurt or in the minor leagues with the Blue Jays.
It’s gone terribly.
In 31 games, he’s hitting .165/.298/.271.
I’ve been a Votto fan for his whole career and I am happy he did so badly.
It meant he will stay a lifetime Cincinnati Red.
What good would being called up to the deadass Blue Jays have done?
Now, he’ll join legends and lifetime Reds Johnny Bench and Barry Larkin in the Hall Of Fame.
Joey Votto batted .294/.409/.511 for his entire career.
He won an NL MVP in 2010 (and was runner-up in 2017).
He led the league in On-Base Percentage SEVEN times!
That .409 career OBP is better than Jim Thome, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson and Chipper Jones had.
I think you might make a real case that Votto is the most underrated hitter of this century.
He never played in an LCS, much less a World Series.
Votto detractors can point to his lousy post-season track record as a big reason why.
He never even had an extra-base hit.
But, I think that’s kind of unfair.
He only played on four playoff teams in his entire career.
That amounted to 11 total games.
They did have four playoff teams but those teams had a combined winning percentage of .559.
That’s barely a 90 win pace in a full season.
These weren’t juggernaut teams.
Joey Votto didn’t get to play on a great team for his entire career.
Because of that, he has been so underappreciated.
Take Mark Teixeira, who had a wonderful career.
Seems like a great guy and teammate too.
I’ll miss seeing him play.
