Reds July 2025 Thread

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(07-07-2025, 09:42 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Another guy who had a career year when he was able to pick the mind of a great hitter like Votto.

Yeah, I'm sure that's why. Too bad that he forgot everything after leaving and also too bad that those #2 and #4 hitters never took the time to pick his mind. 

So Votto is why Choo was good, but poor Joey was drug down by everybody else.

ok

Quote:Just a shame you got to watch a future Hall of Fame player for years and all you got out of it was bitterness and no appreciation of what you got to see.

Actually I was a fan until around Spring Training of 2018. When he wanted to be a hitter, he was awesome. He had a complete and total shit early part of the 2017 season, then had one of the greatest runs that I've ever seen from a hitter. I've seen better short runs or streaks but he was on fire for a couple of months. I've rarely seen stretches like that and most of the ones that I have seen like that were early in the season. His was during crunch time when teams that are still in it are already playing like it's the playoffs. He had just missed out on the MVP and I 'figgered' that it was obvious that he was going to come to ST pumped and focused on a strong ST continuing into the regular season.

Nope.

Instead, we got him goofing around and trying to see how many foul balls he could get, joking with the dugout in between pitches. We also got something that I have never seen before or since from any of the thousands of players that I've watched or played with or against. A practice check swing. I didn't see a guy trying to hit or practicing to hit the ball after a great season, I saw a guy focused on not hitting the ball. That was a first for me. .284 is a good average, but it was a clear drop off from a guy that was in the MVP race as he seemingly went from aggressor to duck and hide. It was also his worst full season of his career at that point, but that stupid practice check swing stayed for a couple more years as his average dropped. He still had it into the 2021 season but dropped it early then started hitting again.

Bitter? No. Disappointed? Very. He totally pissed away the tail end of his career. Usually it's from something off of the field like drugs or violence but his was simply from mentality and approach to the game. All I saw was a guy that knew he wasn't going to be cut or traded. He was eventually just dragging a carcass across the finish line for a paycheck. You should never want your star to retire, but that's where we were.