CINCINNATI – Joey Votto announced Monday afternoon he’s back. The Reds first-baseman said in a news conference that afternoon he was healthy and ready for his 2023 season debut.
Then, Monday night, Votto homered and hit a go-ahead, two-run single, helping Cincinnati extend its longest winning streak in a decade to nine with a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
He spent the past several months playing for the Reds’ minor league affiliate, the Louisville Bats, while he recovered from shoulder surgery.
For fans, the news came as a welcome surprise. Jason Hicks, who traveled to Monday’s game with his son, said they’d just watched Votto play in Louisville the previous Saturday. So to be at his Reds debut just days later was a privilege.
“For defense, he was on the money,” he said. “Couldn’t get anything past him.”
Votto’s return comes while the Reds are on a hot streak. Ahead of Monday’s game, the team was on a league-best eight-game win streak, and Hicks believes Votto’s return will only keep the momentum going.
“He’s just a big integral part of the team,” he said. “He’s a big puzzle piece that they need to keep winning, and I think it’ll be awesome.”
The Reds started their 2023 season amid low expectations. The team was coming off a hundred-loss and many fans had lost confidence in the front office.
Now, thanks to rising stars — like rookie Elly De La Cruz — the season is starting to turn around, and fans like Richard Carr said there’s a renewed faith in the talent the organization is recruiting.
“That’s a key,” he said. “Having good chemistry and some teams, you have all that and people don’t think you’re going to win makes you more motivated to prove people wrong.”
With Votto’s return and momentum on the team’s side, Carr hopes the team will continue to prove those pre-season predictions wrong all year.
“Winning changes everything,” he said.
Should the Reds come out on top of their series with the Colorado Rockies, they’ve got a good chance of overtaking the Milwaukee Brewers for the top spot in the National League.
