"Similar to Aaron Judge, I was just in a perfect place with my swing" - Joey Votto looks back on almost achieving his biggest goal
Prime Joey Votto was easily one of the best at-bats in the sport. He regularly used to reach base either through his contact hitting or drawing walks. The recently retired veteran found a resemblance in his past form to that of Yankees captain Aaron Judge.
On the Foul Territory TV podcast, analyst Jon Heyman asked the Cincinnati Reds legend about how he managed to shut down all the criticism against him for being passive at the plate. Votto replied:
"I paid mind to the all-time greats and a constant amongst them, high batting average, high on-base percentage, low strikeouts, so those were the keys during the course of my career ... I didn't listen a lot to what they said because I kept going back to these historical greats of the game." (Time Stamp 9:20)
Joey Votto further added that his biggest goal was to achieve a .500 On-Base Percentage in a season.
"My biggest, not necessarily regret, but I always wanted a 500 on-base year [OBP]. I think Mickey Mantle had one, I think he was the last one to have, no other than [Barry] Bonds. Before Bonds, it was just Mantle who had 512 or something. I remember thinking in 2012, I was .485, I haven't hit my homers yet, I haven't got my intentional walks yet.
"Similar to Aaron Judge, I was just in a perfect place with my swing, perfect place with my game and I was healthy all the time," Votto added.
Comparing Aaron Judge's 2024 season to Joey Votto's 2012 season
Despite being 12 years apart, there are a lot of similarities between Aaron Judge and Joey Votto's respective seasons. The Reds infielder played just 111 games as he suffered a knee injury in July. Still, he managed to draw 94 walks which was the highest in the National League. Judge this season, leads all of baseball with 115 walks.
Votto did come very close to his set landmark, recording a .474 On-Base Percentage. Judge currently has a .454 OBP this season. One place where the Yankees captain outweighs the Reds 1B is the Wins Above Replacement; the metric that determines how important a player is to their team.
This is understandable as, despite Votto being out of action for six weeks, the Reds went 33-16 during the stretch.