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Reds first baseman Joey Votto was robbed of another Silver Slugger Award

Drew Koch
Drew Koch

Blog Red Machine

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto (19) is tagged out. / Albert Cesare / The Enquirer via Imagn

What's a guy gotta do, huh? Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto failed to take home the Silver Slugger Award last night.

Instead, Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who had a very good season in his own right, took home the hardware for a third time.

Reds first baseman Joey Votto was robbed, again.

This is becoming exhausting. Joey Votto, one of the best first basemen of his generation, has yet to receive a Sliver Slugger.

Even during Votto's MVP-winning year (2010), the Reds first baseman failed to win the award. Albert Pujols won the award that season.

In 2010 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Pujols hit .312/.414/.596 with 42 home runs and 118 RBIs. Votto hit .324/.424/.600 with 37 homers and 113 RBIs.

In 2017, Paul Goldschmidt took home the Silver Slugger for the third time in his career. The former Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman hit .297/.404/.563 with 36 homers and 120 ribbies.

That year, when Joey Votto was robbed of his second NL MVP trophy, he was also robbed of his first Silver Slugger while slashing .320/.454/.578 with 36 round trippers and 100 runs batted in.

This year, Freddie Freeman hit .300/.393/.503 with 31 homers and 83 RBIs. However, Votto slashed .266/.375/.563 with 36 home runs and 99 RBIs.

Freeman posted a 135 wRC+ this past season, but Votto put up a wRC+ of 140. In fact, Votto has led all NL first basemen in wRC+ six times and yet to win the Silver Slugger.

Maybe it was, as former teammate Scooter Gennett suggested, the number of stolen bases that left Votto out in the cold.

Whatever the reason, it's an absolute travesty that Joey Votto has yet to win a Silver Slugger Award. At 38 years old, one has to wonder if the Reds first baseman will ever get one.

Of course, no one foresaw the renaissance season that Votto put up in 2021, so perhaps the six-time All-Star will get another crack at the award in 2022.

Drew Koch

Drew Koch

Drew Koch has been an MLB Staff Writer since January 2024 and part of the FanSided Network since June 2018. Drew's contributions have been published on Blog Red Machine, Friars on Base, BoSox Injection, Lombardi Avenue, Wildcat Blue Nation, Motor City Bengals, and many other sites within the FanSided Network. When he's not cheering wildly for the Cincinnati Reds or the Kentucky Wildcats, Drew enjoys fishing, golfing, playing cribbage and other card games, listening to country and classical music, and spending time with his family and friends.