Joey Votto ‘Embarrassed’ By Reds’ Start To Season

If you haven't noticed that the Cincinnati Reds have begun playing baseball this spring, you're not alone. Even the players, it seems, are unaware the season is underway. Cincinnati's slept their way through the season's first month - currently sporting a 3-16 record, the worst mark in the Major Leagues.

Joey Votto, a Reds lifer who's been with the club since 2007, acknowledges that the dismal start to the season has been nothing short of gut-wrenching.

"This is awful to experience each and every day,” Votto said per The Athletic. “We’re competitors, professionally. We’re competitors. Our job is to win. To go out and get smacked around every day is anti-everything that we’re about."

"Getting smacked around every day" isn't much of a stretch. In their last 10 games, Cincinnati has nine losses. They've won just once at their home ballpark all season.

Oddly enough, Votto, a six-time All-Star and 2010 NL MVP, has previously been through an eerily similar stretch. In 2018, the Reds started 3-18. Votto seems to have erased that misery from his memory, only to endure this season's pain.

“For me, it’s an awful and embarrassing experience. You have to keep going. But when you’re in the middle of it, it’s definitely embarrassing," Votto added, referring to both the Reds' struggles and his own - he's currently batting just .129 with only 3 RBI.

Should Votto and the Reds decide to awake from their spring slumber, they have a chance to add oil to the Big Red Machine as soon as this evening. Cincy visits the Rockies for the first game of a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 8:40 pm EST.

 

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