Canadian Votto named National League MVP finalist
Joey Votto started the 2017 season unsure how his defensive game would stack up.
Now that it’s over, the Cincinnati Reds first baseman and Canadian star says it was his defence that made him most proud over his MVP-calibre campaign. Votto, a Gold Glove finalist this season, was named one of the three finalists for the National League MVP award on Monday for the third time in his career. The MVP will be announced Nov. 16 while Gold Glove winners will be revealed today.
Votto is hoping to add both to his trophy case.
“I think that going into this season I was really concerned . . . I was very, very scared that I was starting the process of declining as a defensive player,” Votto said on a conference call Monday night. “And the next subject would have been possible trades to an American League team, should he DH, those sort of things.
“It was the defence (he wanted to focus on), really shoring that up and making sure that I’m among the Gold Glove finalists this year. That was my goal, to really get back on track to being one of the best defensive players in my position in baseball.”
Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton and Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt are the other MVP finalists in the NL, while Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Indians and Jose Altuve of the Houston Astros are the American League finalists. Clayton Kershaw is going for a fourth NL Cy Young Award against Washington aces Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Corey Kluber of Cleveland, Chris Sale of Boston and Luis Severino from the Yankees are up for the AL Cy Young Award.
Votto led MLB this season in on-base percentage, walks and intentional walks and tied Kansas City’s Alcides Escobar for the Major League lead in games started (162).
The 34-year-old reached base an MLB-best 321 times in 2017, breaking his own club record of 319 set two seasons before. He also led the NL in walks for the fifth time, in on-base percentage for the sixth time and in both categories in the same season for the fourth time.
The Toronto native also joined Babe Ruth (1921, 1924, 1926, 1930) and Ted Williams (1941, 1942, 1949) as the only players in Major League history to produce at least 179 hits, 36 homers and 134 walks with 83 strikeouts or fewer in a single season. Votto won the MVP in 2010.