Votto seems like a level headed guy. Don't know where you see all these mental issues. Nobody's perfect in baseball.

August, I believe, is the month his father passed away a few years ago and he seems to always have trouble during this time. If you remember, he took off the entire month to get his "head straight" and to deal with the one year anniversary of his dad passing a few years ago.

 

I talked to Welsh one evening a couple months ago and I asked him about Votto. He says Votto is just a hard guy to figure out. He says he comes to the park about 2pm, hits about 200 balls off a tee, takes batting practice, then goes watch film for a while. He says everyone in the organization has tried to tell him you can't swing that much every single day without it starting to work against you at some point. I'm surprised his shoulders haven't broke down by now.

 

Basically, Votto is just a strange dude but I would rather someone put in too much work at his craft than go through the motions. For me, he drives me nuts watching him play at times. His defense has riverted back to where he swipes at a ball in the dirt versus getting his body in front. He seems to "guess" at the plate too much for his talent (his very awkward swings on some pitches are the result of guessing, IMO). He, and Choo for that matter, take way too many called third strikes. If it's borderline on a two strike pitch, then you need to be hacking and the pitches are atleast borderline if they are called strikes.

The Reds have the best hitter in the NL and their fans and two of their broadcasters are too worried about other stuff to know it.

Choo and Votto get on base more than everyone else in the NL but fans think they take too many strikes. You can't make this stuff up. Votto has said in two different interviews lately he's not changing his approach b/c it won't work or him. Yet fans, announcers and the clown manager want him to change. Unreal

Doing my best to remember the exact quote during the Reds broadcast but Marty said something like this after Votto batted....

 

"Somehow, sometime, someone is going to have to explain exactly what the heck is going on with Joey Votto....... I mean I don't know why its such a sacred subject that no one will talk about it......"

 

Then on the opposite side Sunday morning on WLW Ken Broo and a writer from The Sporting News declared that Votto is certainly one of the Top 10 players in MLB.....

 

So how can they be on such opposite sides?

 

He's not the Joey of old which is true everyone kinda just deals with, doesn't talk about it. He's top 25 right now IMO. But he's not the same as he was before his injury.

Marty needs Joe back to bring some of the joy of the game back to him. Between Marty, Thom, and Jeff they think they know it all, and just constantly gripe about any mistake a player makes. No one's riding Thom when he says, "This'll be two", and it doesn't end up being two. They act like the game is easy, because between Marty and Thom, they haven't played a whole lot.

I haven't listened to Marty a whole lot the last several years since about every game is on TV. Did HoF go to his head? He's always seemed to call it the way he sees it, but it seems as if everything he sees now is in some way wrong. Nothing ever seems good enough for him or up to his standards. In short he is like many BGP posters he has turned into a Baseball Snob!

The Reds have the best hitter in the NL and their fans and two of their broadcasters are too worried about other stuff to know it.

You can get off that horse, at that altitude you could tweak an ankle. No one is saying Votto isn't a terrific hitter. You are the master at inference. Dude can rake. But he's fruity as an orchard.

You can get off that horse, at that altitude you could tweak an ankle. No one is saying Votto isn't a terrific hitter. You are the master at inference. Dude can rake. But he's fruity as an orchard.

 

I don't think he's fruity as much as he's introverted. I think that's been obvious from the get go. I'd still build my team around him.

I don't think he's fruity as much as he's introverted. I think that's been obvious from the get go. I'd still build my team around him.

I don't disagree with that. I don't disagree he can hit. I don't disagree he's an all-star. I agree with all of those things. I'm glad he's on my favorite team. But jeez, Marty made a point, I think he's spot on. You can't ask a question about Votto without setting off an alarm. And we live in a day and time when you can find out what they had for lunch, when their last bowel movement was and if they're wives are idiots on twitter. He's weird, and obviously, off limits.

You can get off that horse, at that altitude you could tweak an ankle. No one is saying Votto isn't a terrific hitter. You are the master at inference. Dude can rake. But he's fruity as an orchard.

 

Not disagreeing with you. Not sure everyone including Marty realizes dude can still rake.

I don't disagree with that. I don't disagree he can hit. I don't disagree he's an all-star. I agree with all of those things. I'm glad he's on my favorite team. But jeez, Marty made a point, I think he's spot on. You can't ask a question about Votto without setting off an alarm. And we live in a day and time when you can find out what they had for lunch, when their last bowel movement was and if they're wives are idiots on twitter. He's weird, and obviously, off limits.

 

Marty erred in believing people would react negatively to anyone questioning if there is something bothering Votto. I don't believe it would be a problem.

I can echo the thought he may be his own worst enemy. A friend inside the organization put it something like he works so hard and sometimes out thinks himself with his at bats. The dude is relentless, and I feel like he just needs to relax. Seems a bit high strung.

I think he's a perfectionist in a sport where if you fail 70% of the time, you are an All Star. Glad he's on my favorite team as well and just because he drives me nuts watching him sometimes doesn't mean I don't want him on my team. He just thinks too much and needs to relax and let his talent take over but some people aren't wired that way. Hopefully he gets hot again at the right time.

I think he's a perfectionist in a sport where if you fail 70% of the time, you are an All Star. Glad he's on my favorite team as well and just because he drives me nuts watching him sometimes doesn't mean I don't want him on my team. He just thinks too much and needs to relax and let his talent take over but some people aren't wired that way. Hopefully he gets hot again at the right time.

^that