Reds first baseman Joey Votto suffered a fractured left thumb on Wednesday, manager David Bell told C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic and other reporters. Votto will miss “weeks,” likely around a month, according to Bell.
The 37-year-old Votto incurred the injury on a fourth-inning hit by pitch from White Sox left-hander Dallas Keuchel in a game the Reds ultimately won, 1-0. Votto stayed in through the fifth inning, but the Reds then replaced him with Kyle Farmer. It was a cruel way for Votto to leave the 1,800th game of his decorated career.
Votto’s injury continues what has been a tough start to the season for the former NL MVP, six-time All-Star and potential Hall of Famer. Through 118 plate appearances, Votto has batted a so-so .226/.305/.425 – a far cry from his lifetime line of .303/.418/.516. Votto’s walk and strikeout rates are also much worse than his career marks, though his bottom-line results looked due for a turnaround before Wednesday’s injury. According to Statcast, Votto ranks near the top of the league in expected slugging percentage, average exit velocity, expected weighted on-base average, hard-hit percentage and expected batting average.
Cincinnati and Votto will now have to wait even longer for a possible 180 from the franchise icon, and the Reds will have to find a replacement(s) in the meantime. Alex Blandino is the only other Red who has started a game at first base this year.
Amir probably broke it for looking at him wrong
Does Moustakas slide over to first, Suarez back to third, or does Tyler Stephenson get some time at 1B so they can get both his and Tucker Barnhart’s hot bats into the line-up?
Slide Suarez to the bench!
Off topic, but…
Hey, I remember you asking me to link you some of the new stuff I’ve written, so here’s something that just dropped yesterday. I helped a friend write it and he published it, but it was easily the most “advanced” thing I’ve made/contributed to yet: lonestarball.com/2021/5/4/22410843/mr-clean-a-look…
(Btw, yes, my username is HufftheMagicDragon over there lol)
Keep Suarez at SS. Moussakas to 1st, Senzel to 3rd, Naquin to CF, or some combo or Barnhart or Stephenson at 1st. Suarez has been bad, but he’s still the best option at SS by far.
Will be interesting. They have options with Akiyama coming back. Senzel can play 2B or 3B.
How about Moose to first, Senzel to third, Naquin and newly rehabbed Akayama split center.
Moose to first and Farmer will play 3rd. Reds are adamant about not playing Senzel in the infield for some reason.
Breaking news- Senzel has played a few games at 2nd already this season
Not on a full time basis.
That has changed. He started at 2nd just the other day.
No but he did start a game
Shogo will get the bulk of at bats. My guess is winker or castellanos take over 1st. That would sure up outfield defense a bit
Votto sucks so far this year, but what’s wrong with Miguel Cabrera? He’s in Chris Davis territory. He could probably take a few at-bats lefthanded and not do much worse than he is now.
When you’re fat, rich, old, and on a bad team, it’s easy to phone it in.
Hey Egon, I take your lousy posts to be against older players, your posts suck. You have no idea what an older player can bring to a team.
Egon Spengler
Votto sucks so far this year, but what’s wrong with Miguel Cabrera?
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The dude is like a 100 years old, and not one of those ‘well-maintained’ 100 years old.
Actually, Miggy and Votto are not that much different, right now. The only real difference is that Cincy extended Votto when he was 30, so he had 5 good/great seasons. The Tigers extended Miggy when he was 33, so he only gave the Tigers one good season for his $240M.
Again, there is nothing wrong with paying good players good money. But players all age out, no matter what the contract says.
Votto was 28 when he signed the tho
Your reference to an older player being 100 years old is childish and ignorant. Teams keep the older players around for a reason, possibly for coaching or management. Keep your ageist comments to yourself.
Miggy is prolly older than his listed 37
If he is older than 37 so what? Learn to spell probably
Maybe chill a bit? “Prolly” is a socially acceptable substitute in Interwebz speak, which if I’m not mistaken, you are currently using to vent.
donopolis, I’ve been on the computer for over 25 years. Never seen the word “prolly” substituted for probably ever before. “Socially acceptable”, where, on the Dark Web?
“Probably” is a word that is rarely pronounced as it is spelled, therefore, in shorthand it’s often spelled more closely to pronunciation… this is new to people?
Unsurprisingly, you sound like you’ve been on the computer for 25 years lol.
It’s new to me – how do you figure “probably” is not pronounced as it is spelled? Ridiculous statement.
I don’t see a lot of difference between the two either. Miggy is just a few months older, neither have been all that productive since 2018, both are well past elite production. While Cabrera’s numbers are especially harsh to look at, I would say it’s more a product of small sample size. He’s had just 57 AB’s. We see someone with numbers like his at this point of the season every season..in addition to Chris Davis at the END of every season =}. This shouldn’t be so surprising.
Votto hasn’t had a star-caliber season since 2017. The Reds would be better off without him. But he’s signed through 2023.
Yes they would but Votto has complete no trade rights and he has been particularly clear about not wanting to leave Cincinnati. The Reds only option is to play him, bench him or release him.
No one was complaining when Votto was out playing his current contract in the earlier years. That’s how long term contracts go. He still brings value, but they should drop him down to say 6th in the BO.
Broken finger on a Key help changeup. that has to be embarassing
I really don’t understand why they don’t make batting gloves with protection sewn into them (thick plastic or metal plates in them). They can make them so fingers can still bend and not restrict their hand action at all. There are way too many hand injuries in baseball.
metal plates on the gloves won’t impact their swing?
This will be good for reds. They have already moved winker into that featured 2 hole and he’s excelling while having a breakout season. Cast bat 3 and Suarez moves up a spot – not having to hit behind votto should help. Let shogo or senzel lead off. This lineup just improved
No-hitter alert: John Means has faced 21 batters through seven innings. It’s not a perfect game because Sam Haggerty reached first base on a strikeout, and was then caught stealing.
So far, it is 21 batters, 20 first-pitch strikes. The guy has been a machine.
UPDATE: John Means has thrown a no-hitter. He’s the 1st Orioles pitcher to throw a complete-game no-hitter since Jim Palmer in 1969.
He was totally locked in. Just a fantastic performance.
Btw, the first two completed games of the day ended in shutouts.. That brings the season total to 77. During last year’s 60-game season, there were only 12. MLB is on pace for 427 shutouts in 2021. The record for the 30-team league is 353 in 2014. There were 339 in 1968 when there were just 20 teams.
Also, MLB was on pace for 6,420 more strikeouts than hits entering the day. Through the day’s first two completed games, there have been 37 strikeouts and 16 hits.
Yet not 1 pitcher has been reprimanded by the league for using a foreign substance while pitching. I know we are 1 month end but I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen so many regulars batting under 200. All signs point to league wanting quicker games
bot, I love baseball but it’s hard to watch. I’m finally on board with pushing the mound back. Gotta do something because this trend isn’t going to reverse itself. Even with pitchers getting hurt like crazy, the strikeouts keep climbing.
Nice. I wish he played 2b or 3b so I could use him better on my “All Older Than Me Team.” I guess he can back up Suzuki and Votto at C/1b.
I remember you and that team. I would update my Oldest Players I Saw Play Team but it has happily been a slow year for baseball deaths.
If they don’t want to fix this in house Gyrko is still out there, or lure Bruce out of retirement for a month or two so he can retire a Red.. although seriously I agree with using Winker/Moose/Blandino as mentioned above. Could end up being a short term net positive, I’ll always love Votto and I know he’s a good dude but I don’t think he belongs in the 3 or 4 slot anymore. That said I hope he’s back sooner than later.
Votto was in the top 10 with 5 hrs and 17 rbis, You veteran haters need to shut up
I SAID CAN IT !
Broken thumb? That gotta hurt. Worse than hitting a cold thumb with a hammer?
So funny last night when Brantley called CTrent a ‘wookie’, or ‘rather Chewbacca’. Perfect description of a writer who wants to be the center of attention.
Connor, Votto’s results looked like they had already turned around, with a .293/.369/.655 line over the prior three weeks.
Move Castellanos to 1B. That will make room to put Shogo in the OF – he is about to return.