Even though he was getting on base in more than half of his plate appearances, there has been a constant buzz of worry in some circles that Joey Votto was in a hitting funk.
Votto was drawing walks — a Major League-most 25 to be exact — but where were the home runs? Where were the RBIs?
“I’m not concerned about the home runs,” Votto said. “The Reds pay me to be good. That’s all I try to do — to be the best that I can. If I go through a little bit of a homer drought, I try to fill in with other things.”
After this weekend, some of those rumblings might finally cease. During a 10-6 Reds win over the Marlins on Sunday, Votto homered for the second time in two games while going 3-for-5. He was 4-for-6 in Saturday’s win.
If batting .328 with a .516 slugging percentage and .522 on-base percentage is struggling, 99 percent of the league’s players would be happy to struggle like Votto.
“I told you everybody is going to worry about Joey more than we were, even Joey,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
In April 2012, Votto batted .289 with two homers and 15 RBIs. In May, he batted .355 with six homers and 14 RBIs.
“If you can hit, you can hit. Sooner or later, you’re going to start hitting,” Baker said. “You don’t just stop hitting. He’s not old. He’s not fat. And his eyes are still good. Most of the time when you stop hitting, your eyes go bad and you get fat around the midsection, your reaction gets slow and you get old. He’s a long ways from any of those. He’s going to hit.”
Baker, whose club won three of four in the series and six of the last seven during the 10-game homestand, certainly is pleased that Votto’s bat has heated up.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s nice,” the manager added.
With two outs in the bottom of the first inning against Marlins starter Alex Sanabia, Votto sent a first-pitch changeup over the plate into the right-field seats for his third homer of the season and seventh RBI. It was the first time he’s homered in consecutive games since Sept. 10-11, 2011.
Votto, who missed six weeks last season after needing two surgeries to repair cartilage in his left knee, did not homer again after he returned in September — which left him at 14 for the season. He hit 29 home runs in 2011 and 37 in 2010.
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