The goal was to become more dangerous at the plate.
"I've led the league in slugging percentage," Joey Votto said at the start of spring training. "I have to remind myself that at the core, that's who I am."
He had gotten away from it the past few years, which most people attributed to his advancing age. But he blamed a faulty approach -- or one no longer suitable for his advancing age.
"I lost some of my strengths that I first came to the league with -- hitting the ball, specifically, hitting the ball all over the field with power," Votto said. "I did that in exchange for command of the strike zone, putting the ball in play, being a tough at-bat. And it sapped my power."
He sold out for contact, basically, seeing the low strikeout rate he had in 2017 as the key to his near-MVP performance. Once he realized it was holding him back, being benched briefly for a period late in 2020, he decided to make some changes.
"I had to let that [strikeout rate] go and get back to what got me to the league," he said, noting that he went back to standing taller at the plate. "The adjustments I made last year after the benching were very, very natural."
And the results were immediate. Over his final 29 games last year, he had eight homers and a .941 OPS. His batting average was a modest .258 during that stretch, but it seemed like a worthy tradeoff.
"I'm back to kind of a more comfortable place in terms of hitting," he said. "It's going to come with some more swings and misses and more strikeouts, but as long as I'm productive and as long as I'm dangerous at the plate, it will pay itself off."
After a slow first couple weeks this year, perhaps due to a bout with COVID-19 in spring training, it indeed appears to be paying off.
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April 19, 2021 at 09:25PM
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Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire: Joey Votto, Jed Lowrie, Michael Fulmer making a comeback - CBS Sports
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