Will the Reds Bring up Votto?

August 28, 2007 @ 16:00:00

By Whit Benson
Edited by Ryan Dodson

Sept. 1 is an exciting time for baseball fans of contending and non-contending teams alike as rosters expand from 25 to 40 players. This gives teams a chance to look at new faces from the minor leagues that could be a big part of the team the rest of the season and beyond. One of those players, which almost certainly will be called up later this week, is Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto, a member of the Triple-A Louisville Riverbats this season. Votto, who is from Canada, was selected to represent the World Team in the All-Star Futures Game each of the last two seasons. He is widely considered one of the baseball's top offensive prospects. The full-time first baseman job in Cincinnati figures to be his in 2009 as he figures to eventually become a .300, 25-home run, 100-RBI type of player. He has good power to all fields and has above-average speed for a first baseman. While his skill set is tremendous, the only knocks on him so far have been his defense (11 errors), and his inability to hit left-handed pitching (.233, two home runs in 116 at-bats). Barring an injury, Votto figures to get called up later this week and get his first cup of coffee as a member of the Reds.

For a guy that is only 23 years old and never played in a major league game, Votto has had several interesting things happen to him since joining the Reds organization. After having a fantastic season in 2004 at Rookie League Dayton, Votto saw his batting average slip from .302 to .256 upon his promotion to Single-A Sarasota the following year. While most felt that his rapid ascent through the organization had hit a road block, it was later rumored that then general manager Dan O' Brien ordered every hitter on the Sarasota team that season to inexplicably always take the first pitch in an at-bat. Word spread quickly around the league, and Votto and the rest of his teammates found themselves down 0-1 in the count nearly every time, which served as an explanation for his dip in production. Votto responded favorably to the changing of the guard in 2006, having a monster year at Double-A Chattanooga, and was back on the fast track to the big leagues. At the start of this season at Triple-A Louisville however, Votto got off to a miserable start, hitting only .192 in April. He soon realized that while he had never had vision problems in the past, his eyesight was getting worse and worse, and an eye test revealed he had developed 20/70 vision plus an astigmatism that was preventing him from seeing at night. Since getting contact lens to correct the problem, Votto has been on a four-month tear, getting his batting average all the way up to .297, to go along with 22 home runs, 89 RBI and 16 stolen bases on the season.

While players that post great numbers in the minors raise the eyebrows of fantasy owners upon getting called up, there is little to suggest that Votto could be an asset to anyone's team for the remainder of this season. For starters, the Reds have the best record in the National League since July 3 (29-19) and have went from scrapping the season entirely, to finding themselves only 6 1/2 games out of first place in the weakest division in recent memory. They firmly believe they still have a chance, albeit a slim one, and will continue to platoon veteran first baseman Scott Hatteberg with recently acquired first baseman Jorge Cantu until they are out of it for good. Like Hatteberg, Votto hits left-handed and would only crack the lineup rarely over the final month of the season when Hatteberg needs a blow. This format could change if the Reds go south in a hurry, but that is not likely to happen as they have clearly been the best team in the division for two months. The idea of playing Votto in the outfield somewhere has been discussed, but he is by all accounts a defensive liability and doesn't figure to take any time away from left-handed hitting outfielders Josh Hamilton, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr., all of which are firmly entrenched in the everyday lineup.

Something else that is discouraging about Votto is that Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky has seemingly had multiple opportunities to call him up over the last two years but never has done so despite the gaudy numbers he has produced. This has been a hot topic of conversation in Reds country, as most conclude that either Votto doesn't fit into the Reds future plans, or the organization doesn't think he has developed his skills enough to help the ball club. Real prospects usually don't hit the Triple-A level and stall there, so the fact he hasn't made his debut by now is a bit of a red flag. It does seem likely that they will have no excuse to not bring him up on Sept. 1, however, but look for him to only get around 40 to 60 at-bats.

If you are desperate for first base help, chances are the waiver wire will not provide significant improvement, and your league's trade deadline has likely already come and gone. The aforementioned Hatteberg may be a decent pickup, as he has established himself as a .300 hitter with the Reds over two seasons who rarely strikes out and walks a lot. If you are looking for someone that can add pop to your lineup, take a look at Detroit Tigers first baseman/outfielder Marcus Thames. Since being activated from the disabled list on Aug. 10, Thames has seen a lot of playing time, and for the season has a very attractive 14:1 at-bat to home run ratio. Hatteberg and Thames are available in over 90 percent of leagues polled, but none of them project to anything more than an off-day sub on a good fantasy team.

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Whit Benson
Whit has been with KFFL since 2007.

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