MLB 21st century face of the franchise — Cincinnati Reds: Joey Votto
Joey Votto may be a Canadian native, but he is indisputably the face of the Reds.
A 2002 second-round Reds draftee out of Toronto, he has played nearly 2,000 big league games, every one of them in Reds livery. That translates to 16 seasons of seniority. Votto ranks sixth in Reds history in that category. At .419, he is first all-time in on-base average.
And Votto has done far more than merely hang around town. The National League’s 2010 Most Valuable Player, he’s a six-time All-Star and a career .304 hitter with a deserved reputation for waiting out the perfect pitch, then assaulting it.
In five different seasons, Votto has led the National League in walks. At .412, he’s second in franchise history in on-base average. At .513, he’s fifth in slugging.
Reds management thinks so much of Votto’s role as a team leader that they committed more than $125 million to keep him in Cincinnati at least through the end of this season.
To date, Vitto has amassed 64.3 games of WAR, the most by any first baseman in the history of the Reds’ franchise, and the fourth most by any player. That’s saying something because the Reds history dates continuously to the 1880s and includes such prominent first basemen as Ted Kluzewski and Tony Perez.
Yet it is Votto, not Kluzewski, Perez or anyone else, who holds the franchise record for most seasons as the team’s primary first baseman.
In the wings: It’s anybody’s guess who, if anybody, might develop into the next team leader. The Reds have a lot of young pitchers who have a chance to develop, guys like Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and Graham Ashcraft. But whether any of those young arms will establish himself as a young ace very much remains to be seen.