All-Star Joey Votto remains bullish on baseball, Reds
WASHINGTON - His sport is in flux, and his team is for now headed toward a fourth consecutive last-place finish. Yet it was difficult to separate Joey Votto from the dozens of All-Stars gathered here who hail from far more prosperous climes.
Making his third consecutive All-Star Game appearance and sixth overall, Votto took on all inquiries at Nationals Park with significant cheer.
At 34, he remains bullish on baseball, and bullish on the Cincinnati Reds.
Just consider this relative stream of consciousness when asked about the state of a sport where attendance is down 7% and storm clouds of labor dissension and loss of audience are gathering.
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"First of all, if you’re going to a game, it’s like you’re going in the park," Votto began. "You get to sit outside, you see the green grass, the dirt, you’re watching a show in front of you, blue skies…no other sport offers you that. Football in the fall, a little bit.
"I don’t think of baseball so much as a sport as much as it is a sport combined with a night out, or a day out. I think more than anything, it’s important for every single team to have an opportunity, to have a chance to win.
"If you have 20 to 25 cities that feel like they have a legitimate shot going into April, I think that’s best-case."
Cincinnati was not one of those cities this spring, and the franchise's prolonged rebuilding resulted in a brutal start and the eventual firing of manager Bryan Price. But the club's 40-38 surge under interim manager Jim Riggleman has sparked hope the road to winning is growing shorter.
While Votto praised Riggleman, he stopped short of an endorsement for the full-time job.
"I don’t want to ever speak to the front office about their decisions," Votto said. "My job is to play and I’m very averse to any sort of questions – whether it’s the manager’s job, anything like that. Whatever they ask of us, I want to do. I think once you start the process of thinking you have a say – then it never ends. Then you start griping about other things. I think a bad habit can start.
"(Riggleman) is on top of us. He expects us to play a certain way, challenges us, and I think he brings a good energy to us during the game, after the game, he listens well. He’s really done a good job."
With the minor-league system ready to furnish potential stars such as infielder Nick Senzel and, in coming years, outfielder Taylor Trammell, hope is on the horizon beyond the All-Star trio of Votto, Eugenio Suarez and Scooter Gennett that are on the NL roster.
And Votto envisions a Cincy revival when fortunes turn.
"Speaking for Cincinnati, we’ve had a bit of a downturn in terms of attendance," says Votto. "But I tell you – once we start winning, they’ll come back and they’ll come back crazy.
"Cincinnati summers – there’s nothing better than coming to a ballpark and watching us play."