Based on an earlier bet, Cincinnati Reds shortstop Zack Cozart may have won himself a donkey on Sunday.
Somehow, until earlier this month we did not know about a bet between Cincinnati Reds teammates Joey Votto and Zack Cozart, but then an interview with MLB Network Radio revealed the bet, apparently made at spring training:
If #Reds Zack Cozart makes the All Star team, Joey Votto owes him a donkey. Yes, you read that right. pic.twitter.com/TFccfckIHS
— MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (@MLBNetworkRadio) June 6, 2017
If that quote is difficult to read, the gist is that Cozart is a big fan of donkeys and would often go to a donkey farm roughly a mile from the Cincinnati Reds’ spring training facility where he could feed the donkeys. Votto took this and joked that if Cozart made the All-Star team, he would get Cozart a donkey.
Cozart’s 2017
Of course, this was a fairly long shot coming into the 2017 season, or so it would have appeared.
Coming into the 2017 season, Cozart had had exactly one season with above a 100 OPS+, and that was in an injury-shortened 2015 season when he hit .258/.310/.459. While the 2007 second round selection for the Reds has posted top-25 active defensive WAR in baseball, he’s never received a Gold Glove for his exceptional work at shortstop. Cozart was seen as an all-glove, no-hit shortstop that offered very little to the team with the bat.
Cozart reports that during spring training he talked with Barry Larkin, who suggested he crush the inside part of the ball. He began to adjust his view on the ball after that and approach the inside of the ball with a strong swing.
He’s been doing that very well this season, to the tune of a .322/.403/.555 line. Among qualified National League shortstops, he ranks first in batting average, second (by .001) in on-base, first in slugging and first in defensive runs saved.
That level of production and a push from the Cincinnati Reds PR department got Cozart not only on the All-Star team, but selected as the National League’s starting shortstop. To his credit, Votto has stated that he’s going to keep up his end of the deal and get Cozart his donkey.
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Soon, Cozart can invite Votto over and show off his “noble steed”: