Joey Votto is a man (but he’s not 40).
August 13, 2010 by Tyler Norton
Filed under Baseball
Yes, every once and a while I’m going to spend a post simply gushing man-love all over one of the star players on my teams. Today, that player is Joey Votto. First off, I can’t believe there is a top player in baseball commonly known as “Joey”. What a weak sounding name. Are there any others out there?
Jonny is eh…Jacoby is just weird. Anyway, lets get down to the stats and how great Votto has been, and how great he will be in the future. You know, since the whole idea about fantasy baseball is projecting. You don’t win games based on what players used to do.
So, to accurately predict I look at three items: Age, past and luck.
Votto is acing the age department. He is about to turn 27 (as it’s also known, the golden age of hitters). So as great as he has been this year, don’t expect his age to slow him down next year, or for the next 8 years.
His past represents a pretty normal development power-wise. His home run totals are 22, 26, 24, 26, 27. 27 being this year’s output so far. His average has never dipped more than 3 points below .300 for an entire season. So we’ve got power and average. Speed is his slight downfall, but he swipes a few bags every year just to keep us on our toes.
In terms of luck, Votto exceeds expectations every year. His BABIP is always way above the league average as is his LD% (actually down this year) and HR/FB% (a staggering 26 this year). Here is the kicker… Joey Votto has not had an infield fly ball this season.
Allow me to repeat that. Joey Votto has not had an infield fly ball this season.
None. Zero. David Ortiz has 32098802 this season. Votto, none.
That is the most encouraging stat to me. Solid wood, every time. And that, my friends, is what she said.
