Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Joey Votto was born on September 10, 1983, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a first baseman in the MLB.

Votto enrolled in high school at Richview Collegiate Institute in 1997. In high school, he also played basketball—playing point guard and once scoring 37 points in a game—and hockey. He played for the Etobicoke Rangers baseball program. Votto signed a National Letter of Intent to play college baseball for the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers after high school.

Votto is a six-time MLB All-Star, a seven-time Tip O'Neill Award winner, and two-time Lou Marsh Trophy winner as Canada's athlete of the year. In 2010, he won the National League MVP Award and the NL Hank Aaron Award. At the end of the 2018 season, among all active players he was first in career on-base percentage, second in OPS and walks, and fourth in batting average.

He is one of five Reds players to have driven in 1,000 runs in a professional career. On July 30, 2021, in a game against the New York Mets, Votto hit a home run, which marked his seventh straight game with a home run alongside setting a club record for most games with a home run. The streak ended the next night when he failed to hit a home run, falling one short of tying the league record for most consecutive games with a home run, though Votto became the oldest player to hit nine home runs in seven games. He was named NL Player of the Month for the month of July 2021. On August 16, Votto collected his 2,000th career hit, a single off Chicago Cubs reliever Michael Rucker.