Joey Votto Saw 43 Pitches in ZERO At-Bats Sunday … Which Means He Took Five Walks

Joey Votto is borderline notorious for discipline at the plate, but what he did against the Pirates in Cincinnati yesterday was something else entirely.

Stepping up to the plate five times in the Reds 5-2 loss to the Bucs, Joey Votto took five straight walks, totaling 43 PITCHES (!). And because walks are plate appearances and don’t count as at-bats, that means he took nearly 50 pitches in ZERO at bats.

You can watch the walks right here.

Here’s how they played out

1st Inning – 11 pitch walk

3rd Inning – 11 pitch walk

5th Inning – 9 pitch walk

7th Inning – 6 pitch walk

9th Inning – 6 pitch walk

FORTY-THREE pitches … and zero at-bats. That’s absolutely insane, as is, of course, the five walks. With those five walks, Votto took his already-league-leading 18.2% walk rate and rounded it off at a solid 19.0%. And he also took his already-league-leading .442 OBP and raised it five points … at the end of August … to .447 OBP for the season.

As you can probably imagine, Votto’s 15.7% out-of-zone swing rate this season is the single lowest in Major League Baseball (and 12th lowest in the past decade). And what’s perhaps even crazier is this isn’t the first time Votto has walked five times in a game. He also did it back on September 23, 2013 against the New York Mets.

The dude is ELITE.

written by

Michael Cerami began covering the Chicago Cubs for Bleacher Nation as a part-time contributor in 2015. One year later, he joined Bleacher Nation full-time, covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. Today, Michael runs Bleacher Nation, contributing as a writer (Cubs, MLB) and an editor for all sections of the site, including the Chicago Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks, as well as MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL. In 2019, Michael was the co-host of NBC Sports Chicago's Cubs Post-Game Show Outside the Ivy. You can find him on Twitter/X @Michael_Cerami

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