Reds fans never forgave this player for stealing Joey Votto’s Silver Slugger Award

Joey Votto is not only one of the greatest hitters in Cincinnati Reds history, but in baseball as a whole. The Reds' first baseman had a dominant prime that saw him rack up six All-Star selections, a Gold Glove, and the 2010 NL MVP trophy.

Votto was an on-base machine who led the league in on-base percentage seven times over his illustrious 17-year career. Even as he was slowed by injuries and age at the end, he retired with a .409 career on-base percentage and a .920 OPS.

Despite all of his well-deserved accolades, there was one thing that always eluded Votto: the Silver Slugger Award. The award, which was created in 1980, was designed to recognize offensive excellence at each position on the diamond, making it eyebrow-raising that a player capable of taking home an MVP award would never be honored with a Silver Slugger.

Votto was robbed of the award many times throughout his career, but nothing stands out more than 2012, when he lost out to well-traveled slugger Adam LaRoche.

Reds fans are still in disbelief that Adam LaRoche was awarded the Silver Slugger over Joey Votto back in 2012

Votto, who hung up his spikes just two seasons ago, was a Reds lifer. That speaks volumes to his talent and loyalty in this modern era, when even superstars like Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, and many others have moved from team to team.

LaRoche, on the other hand, played for six different clubs over his 12-year career. That's no knock on LaRoche, who slugged 255 homers and posted a .260/.336/.462 line before calling it a career in 2015, but it serves to show the disparity between the two players. One was above average, the other is a future Hall of Famer.

In 2012, the then-32-year-old Adam LaRoche had one of the better seasons of his career, hitting a career-best 33 homers, reaching the 100 RBI plateau for the second and final time in his career, and slashing .271/.343/.510 line.

Votto, on the other hand, posted slashed .337/.474/.567, with the .474 on-base percentage going down as the best mark of his career. The discrepancy in OPS was staggering, with Votto coming in at 1.041 versus .853 for LaRoche, nearly a 200-point difference.

Only two things fell in LaRoche's favor: home runs and games played. That's because Votto missed 48 games due to a torn meniscus, which required surgery. Because of that, Votto only played in 111 games and hit just 14 home runs despite having a higher slugging percentage than LaRoche. Another interesting fact is that despite missing so much time, Votto still led the league in walks with 94.

Aside from the playing time factor and the shiny home run total, it's incredibly clear that Votto was by far the more productive hitter at first base that season, making this stand out as an extremely egregious oversight on the part of the voters. Joey Votto was one of the best hitters, regardless of position, of his generation, and it's a travesty that he never took home a Silver Slugger trophy.

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