Cincinnati Reds' Joey Votto in trouble after knee injury – MLB News
The Cincinnati Reds' manager Dusty Baker admitted on Sunday, July 15, that the pain in Joey Votto’s knee has affected his running and therefore his performance has taken a dive. The All-Star contracted the problem last month and since then has difficulty to overcome it.
The problem has started affecting his performance as well. The otherwise consistent and in-form player now had a hitting average of .224 in his last 17 games, which is of considerable worry for the team as a whole.
There are a few reasons involved for this sudden slumpt that Votto has been witnessing. It is due to the injury first. Also, the team manager attributes this to the fatigue more than the injury itself.
"The knee has affected his running," Baker said. "I don't see the knee as much as I see some fatigue, which is usually around this time of year."
He is probably right in his assessment. Fatigue is something inevitable given the tight schedule Votto has had since the start of the season. The All-Star has made it to every statistical category in the National League with his magnificent performance.
Take for example his being on top with 35 doubles in the League coupled with 65 walks. Not only that, he has had 13 intentional walks with 49 extra base hits with .462 on-base percentage.
Considering the seemingly unprecedented challenge Votto is currently confronted by, he was unable to have any hit in his last two games. This is something new for the accomplished slugger. The last time he had gone hitless for three consecutive games, it was in September 2011.
That is something that he will not like to repeat this year, come what may. As for the hitless two games, the team manager had his take on it. "They're throwing him a lot of junk," Baker said. "And sometimes you don't hit."
All this leads to one possible outcome at the end. The Reds may give the player a few days rest largely because Votto had appeared in almost all the games in the season apart from the two that he could not play.
Tags: