Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto is undervalued superstar

The Cincinnati Reds have a superstar that the rest of the world doesn’t value.

The Cincinnati Reds have the best first baseman in all of baseball in Joey Votto.  He is constantly among the National League leaders and MLB leaders in runs created, OBP, and walks.  In other words, sabermetricians love Votto.

The national media drools over the likes of Carlos Correa and Bryce Harper, but neither of them is in the same close as Votto.  Correa has had one truly good year.  Harper is great, but not as efficient as Votto.

Votto just completed his eleventh MLB season.  In those eleven seasons Votto has led the majors in walks three times and the National League only an additional twice.  He has also played 150 games or more seven times, playing all 162 twice.

In those eleven seasons Votto has led the NL in OBP six times, including three times that he has led all of MLB.  The surprise is that it doesn’t perfectly match when he leads the league in walks.  Votto gets on base via both hits and walks.

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He has also twice led the NL in OPS and once in slugging.  Votto is more than a one dimensional offensive player.  Three times he had such a dominant year that he has led the NL in intentional walks, including leading all of MLB twice.

More from Joey Votto

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• Reds: Joey Votto making second-half push for NL MVP
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Beyond the impressive stats that Joey Votto has accumulated for the Cincinnati Reds, he has also received award votes.

Back in his first full season, Votto finish second in the rookie of the year voting.  He finished second behind catcher Geovany Soto of the Chicago Cubs.  It was the Reds starting pitcher Edinson Volquez that really deserved the RoY award in 2008 with an impressive WAR of 4.6.

Since then, Votto has made five All-Star teams and won a Gold Glove.

That he has MVP votes in seven of his nine full MLB seasons is even more amazing, showing that he deserved to make more All-Star teams.  The 2017 MVP votes are not even counted yet.

Votto didn’t do quite enough to win the MVP this season.  Charlie Blackmon of the Colorado Rockies had a better all around season and Giancarlo Stanton of the Miami Marlins had a better year for a slugger, but that doesn’t diminish that Votto easily had one of the top three offensive seasons in 2017.

Next: The pitching will carry the Reds in 2018

The city of Cincinnati is among the best in the country, but it must be why Votto isn’t a superstar.  Inferior players in bigger markets in bigger stars.  The Reds and Votto need to get together about whether he should go somewhere else to make the Hall of Fame.