Joey Votto Has Never Won a Silver Slugger
Reds first baseman Joey Votto is one of the best hitters of his generation (or any generation, for that matter). He’s the active leader in on-base percentage at .427 and has paced the National League six times this decade. He is a lifetime .313 hitter with good power, slugging .538 for his career. And in this age of rising strikeouts, he is the only batter since the start of 2011 with more walks than whiffs in at least 110 plate appearances. With his power, high averages, and ability to control the strike zone, Votto is the closest thing we have to a modern Ted Williams. And he’s never been recognized as the National League’s best first baseman in any year. Joey Votto, for all his gifts in the batter’s box, has never won a Silver Slugger award.
Rest assured, Votto has been well-decorated throughout his 12-year career. He has made five All-Star teams, won an MVP award, and even received a Gold Glove for his fielding. But there’s something conspicuously absent from his trophy case besides that elusive World Series ring (he does play for the Reds, after all).
This lack of Silver Slugger seems unfathomable at first, given the career-long excellence listed above. How does one win an MVP and the Hank Aaron award, as Votto did in 2010, but not win a Silver Slugger? An award chosen not by baseball writers, who have often criticized Votto for taking too many walks, but by the managers and coaches who instruct their pitchers to work around Votto in the first place. Coaches and managers are not necessarily the most analytically-inclined people in the game and have likely been grading sluggers on home runs and RBIs. Votto’s excellence is not as a home run champ, his all-around approach at the plate lead to little accumulation much of either traditional stat. He has never had a 40-homer season, for instance, and has bettered 30 only twice. Three times he’s reached the century mark in RBIs, but never more than 113.
It also didn’t help that when Votto debuted in late 2007, the National League was absolutely stacked at first base. Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard were both in their primes, and Prince Fielder won the Silver Slugger after smashing 50 homers. The Braves had Mark Teixeira, and Todd Helton was still doing his thing in Colorado. The Mets had Carlos Delgado. The Cubs had Derrek Lee. Lance Berkman had replaced Jeff Bagwell in Houston. Adrian Gonzalez had broken out with the Padres. If you were a young first baseman just breaking in, it was virtually impossible to make a name for yourself.
Votto quickly established himself as one of the game’s best young players, however, finishing second in the NL Rookie of the Year race in 2008 and drawing MVP votes in 2009. Pujols was at the peak of his powers then, but in 2010 Votto surpassed him as a hitter and won the NL MVP in a landslide. Pujols still won the Silver Slugger after topping the NL in home runs and RBIs, but the torch had been passed. With Pujols declining further in 2011 and switching leagues in 2012, the door was open for Votto to start racking up Silver Sluggers.
It hasn’t happened. Votto dropped off a bit in 2011, and in 2012 he missed 51 games to injury. He rebounded in 2013, but his MLB-leading 135 walks limited him to just 24 homers and 74 RBIs, which undoubtedly cost him at the polls. After missing 100 games in 2014, Votto started slowly in 2015 and was passed over in favor of Paul Goldschmidt’s superior Triple Crown stats. In 2016, Votto again started sluggishly, finishing with better triple slash stats but fewer home runs and RBIs than eventual winner Anthony Rizzo. Last year Goldschmidt bested Votto for a third time even though Votto slashed .320/.454/.578 to Goldy’s .297/.404/.563 while hitting the same number of homers (36) and tallying 100 RBIs.
Joey Votto has accomplished a lot in his career, but he’s running out of time to win a Silver Slugger. He’s 34 now, soon to be 35, and Rizzo and Goldschmidt are both several years younger. He has other competition , too. Freddie Freeman has blossomed into one of the league’ss best hitters, and seems destined win one soon if he stays healthy. Cody Bellinger could as well if he has any more seasons like his rookie year.
It’s hard to imagine one of the greatest hitters ever retiring without a Silver Slugger. He would likely rather have a World Series ring, but there’s little more that he can do to reach that goal, except maybe if he was good enough to win a Silver Slugger.
-Tyler Maher
