‘I have a responsibility to play well’: Joey Votto set to rejoin Reds in Toronto

Joey Votto, on track to rejoin the Cincinnati Reds for their upcoming three-game series in Toronto, was asked Wednesday what sights he wanted to see in his trip back to his hometown.

“Sights-wise, the center of the baseball,” Votto deadpanned. “Parts of the city, somewhere around windows, maybe the second deck. Somewhere around there. That’s what I’m targeting.”

Votto missed the last 15 games after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis on May 3. He was ill for the first eight or nine days, he said, and didn’t move from his bed or the couch in his Milwaukee hotel room or his home in Cincinnati.

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The timing worked where he could return for his first games in Toronto since 2017, but that was coincidental. He knows he’ll have family and friends in the Rogers Centre crowd, but he even messaged his mom beforehand to tell her, “If I can’t go, I can’t go. It happens.”

Votto: 'When I came back last year, it took maybe a month or so before I caught real fire'

Votto’s primary focus, as he noted in his humorous answer about his favorite sights in Toronto, is playing better. It’s been a rough start at the plate with .122 batting average and one extra-base hit in 74 at-bats.

“I never want to play poorly and I’m a problem-solver by nature when it comes to my job,” Votto said. “I spent most of my time trying to come up with some simple ideas for return, the adjustments I would like to make.”

Votto played two rehab games with Triple-A Louisville last weekend as a designated hitter, recording one hit in four at-bats with three walks and two strikeouts. Playing seven innings at first base at High-A Dayton on Tuesday, he went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts.

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He had a slow start to the 2021 season before missing a month with a broken thumb. After returning from his thumb injury, he was one of the league’s best hitters throughout the final four months of the season.

“When I came back last year, it took maybe a month or so before I caught real fire,” Votto said. “It’s a six-month season. Whether I perform well the day I come back or as the season moves along, I have a responsibility to play well every single day. That’s what my focus has been on.”

Votto on returning to Canada for series against Toronto Blue Jays

The Reds’ upcoming series will be Votto’s fourth trip to Toronto (2008, ’09, ’17). He has three homers, two doubles and seven RBI in nine career games at the Rogers Centre.

He grew up cheering for the Blue Jays and he still keeps up with them because of his conversations with family and friends. He lived about seven miles from their stadium and was 9 years old when they won the first of their back-to-back World Series championships. His late father worked on a downtown street across from the Toronto Islands and Votto often biked downtown.

“Toronto was like the late 90’s-2000’s Yankees before they did their thing with all the superstars,” Votto said. “It was fabulous, we were so lucky. The 1994 (strike) interrupted a likely all-Canadian World Series. I feel scorned. It was a great stretch of time.”

Will Votto play for Canada in the 2023 World Baseball Classic?

The World Baseball Classic is scheduled to return next spring. Votto played for Canada in 2013, but declined in 2017, which was the most recent year for the international tournament.

Votto was noncommittal about whether he’d play for Canada next year.

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“I haven't thought about it,” he said. “I was asked the question from a Canadian teammate and I didn't really have the answer at the time just because I hadn't thought about it. With the changes to baseball over the last two-plus years, I'm trying really hard not to get ahead of myself. There are just so many changes and I don't even know if there will be a tournament. I don't even want to speak on it.”

Votto is focusing on the present. There are plenty of challenges stacked up. He needs to rebound from a poor start. The Reds have the worst record in the Majors. His age puts him in the final stages of his career.

The 38-year-old prides himself as a problem solver. When people were ready to write him off last season, he responded with one of the best stretches of his career.

When he was asked about the timing of the World Baseball Classic, which is during spring training, his answer bounced between his future and the present.

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“Nobody wants to embarrass themselves,” Votto said. “Everybody wants to represent themselves, their family and their country well. You want to perform and that taps into something that's really hard to replicate in spring training. It's difficult to replicate even now in these rehab games. I'm trying to trick myself on a daily basis.

“When you're cornered or you've got your back pushed against the wall, I feel like there's something else that comes out of a player. It's worked for me in the past. Again, I don't want to embarrass myself performing in front of large crowds and performing internationally. That would definitely help me, help speed up my preparation for the season, I think.”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Joey Votto to join Reds in Toronto as he focuses on hitting struggles