Votto Hitting verses walking

[Lewdog]

If only Votto was faster and could hit second instead of third...all his walks are great, but that hurts his RBI total and the walk only advances a runner one base and if no one is on first, no bases.

[Alpha Zero]

If only Votto was faster and could hit second instead of third...all his walks are great, but that hurts his RBI total and the walk only advances a runner one base and if no one is on first, no bases.

I really hope this was a sarcastic comment. I'll take a guy who hits .307/.433/.497 (.931 OPS) with ~25HRs hitting third for my team any day of the week, RBIs be damned.

[Lewdog]

I really hope this was a sarcastic comment. I'll take a guy who hits .307/.433/.497 (.931 OPS) with ~25HRs hitting third for my team any day of the week, RBIs be damned.

That wasn't the point. Pete set the record as a lead off or hitting second a great deal of the time. Generally you want your third hitter in the line up to have more pop and be able to move the runners into scoring position. Many times this year color commentators and others have commented that with a guy on second and no outs, Votto will walk instead of swinging away and moving the runner to third so he could be driven in with a sac fly. Not only does he not move the runner over by walking, but because he isn't the fastest guy, he then sets up the double play or force play at third. I can't tell you how many times that's happened and it ends up with a guy on third with two outs and the Reds end up not scoring. It's basic baseball. Votto needs to take the sword and move the runner over instead of walking so much.

[PTjvs]

Sure, if you never want to score more than one run in an inning, you'd be right.

A walk is a positive result in nearly every instance. If it wasn't, the pitcher would walk you intentionally, right?

jvs

[Lewdog]

Sure, if you never want to score more than one run in an inning, you'd be right.

A walk is a positive result in nearly every instance. If it wasn't, the pitcher would walk you intentionally, right?

jvs

Many times pitchers do walk Votto intentionally by not giving him anything to hit. If they get down 2-0 or 3-0 in the count they just walk him instead of serving up something for him.

I may be wrong, but I think Brandon Phillips leads the team in grounding into double plays.

Despite having the #2 and #4 guys in all of of the MLB in OBP, the Reds are 11th in the Majors in runs, so they are doing something wrong?

[PTjvs]

Many times pitchers do walk Votto intentionally by not giving him anything to hit. If they get down 2-0 or 3-0 in the count they just walk him instead of serving up something for him.

I may be wrong, but I think Brandon Phillips leads the team in grounding into double plays.

Despite having the #2 and #4 guys in all of of the MLB in OBP, the Reds are 11th in the Majors in runs, so they are doing something wrong?

Since they are 3rd in the NL in runs, I would guess:

Having pitchers hit.

jvs

[Lewdog]

Since they are 3rd in the NL in runs, I would guess:

Having pitchers hit.

jvs

You can use that if you want, but I'm repeating what the 'so called' experts are saying, and it makes sense. You can't play for the big inning all the time, especially in today's game. 'Little ball' and great pitching is what wins championships.

[dougdirt]

I am done with this.

Batters job: Get on base, acquire bases. Nothing else they do is even remotely as important as those two things.

[Wonderful Monds]

Misleading thread title. Expected to see a video of Joey freestyling or otherwise rapping. I'm out of here.

[Falcon7]

Nothing more exciting than Votto being up in the bottom of the 9th with 2 on, 2 outs and the Reds down 2. He works the count by taking a couple of high and outside pitches for balls and then 2 middle in pitches for strikes, as he is looking for something to slap to left field. The next pitch is a bit low, full count.
Votto chokes up a little bit more, the next pitch is on the outside corner and he fouls it off.
The next pitch is a waste high fastball on the inside corner borderline ...and Joey takes it for.......ball 4! Awesome he WALKED!
Now if the next 3 batters all walk, like Joey... Reds Win... Reds Win...

[PTjvs]

Nothing more exciting than Votto being up in the bottom of the 9th with 2 on, 2 outs and the Reds down 2. He works the count by taking a couple of high and outside pitches for balls and then 2 middle in pitches for strikes, as he is looking for something to slap to left field. The next pitch is a bit low, full count.
Votto chokes up a little bit more, the next pitch is on the outside corner and he fouls it off.
The next pitch is a waste high fastball on the inside corner borderline ...and Joey takes it for.......ball 4! Awesome he WALKED!
Now if the next 3 batters all walk, like Joey... Reds Win... Reds Win...

I find it amazing that some Reds fans have one of the 5-10 best hitters in baseball on their team, yet complain because they would prefer a DIFFERENT type of perennial all star with an MVP.

I find it amazing that some Reds fans will take the word of worse hitters than Joey that he isn't "doing it right" because they "played the game", ignoring that Joey has also "played the game" at a higher level than almost all of the talking heads.

A team of 8 Vottos would lead the league in runs by a historic margin. Some reds fans would still complain The Cincinnati Vottos didn't do it the "right way" though, I guess.

jvs

[CoachBombay]

I love when people at the game talk **** about how votto sucks this season, and then on the jumbo tron they show where he ranks in the league in all offensive categories...it gets pointed out to them, they shut up the rest of the game.

If anyone was at the game last night section 118, you might have seen this. It was great

[Lewdog]

I love when people at the game talk **** about how votto sucks this season, and then on the jumbo tron they show where he ranks in the league in all offensive categories...it gets pointed out to them, they shut up the rest of the game.

If anyone was at the game last night section 118, you might have seen this. It was great

I'm not saying anything about Votto sucks. I'm saying he isn't a #3 hitter. To be honest, with his skill set as a good OBP guy, average power, and lack of speed, I have no idea where he would be optimal. As it stands right now, I'd rather have him hit #2 than #3, but there are two problems with that. First it would create a scenario with back to back lefties, which Dusty Baker hates and is part of the reason Bruce hits #5 and not clean up behind Votto. Then secondly it would require a guy to hit #3 that is good enough with the bat not to hit into double plays all the time because of Votto's lack of speed, and the Reds don't really have a guy like that.

[Beer&Bourbon]

Choo has looked considerably better recently against LHP, but we all know that ideally he doesn't go out in those situations - esp if we can field someone like Hamilton. I stated elsewhere here that I wouldn't want Hamilton playing in the WC game, but if we face a LH starting pitcher, Hamilton might be a good option.

To the point of the thread, it gets frustrating seeing Votto walk all of the time, but keep in mind that he'll continue to do that for the rest of his career. Power hitting is not maintainable long term, but Votto's strategy is.