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Joey Votto tweaked his right ankle, scratched from the Bisons’ lineup

Originally posted on Bluejaysnation | By Ryley Delaney | Last updated Jul 19, 2024 9:00 PM ET

Just like that, Joey Votto has disappeared.

In the 40-year-old’s first plate appearance with his hometown organization during Spring Training, Joey Votto hit a home run. However, he sprained his ankle after stepping on a loose bat in the dugout.

Originally listed as day-to-day, the first baseman didn’t make his organization debut until June 15 with the Florida Complex League Jays. Between the FCL and Single-A, Votto slashed .186/.321/.326 with one home run in 53 plate appearances, getting the call up to Triple-A on Friday.

Votto was penciled in to make his Buffalo Bisons debut on Friday evening, but was pulled from the lineup. It was eventually reported that he tweaked his right ankle in his pregame workout. He’ll be re-evaluated on Saturday to determine what happens going forward.

From the #BlueJays:

Joey Votto tweaked his right ankle during his pre-game work and won’t be playing this evening with Triple-A Buffalo. He will be re-evaluated tomorrow to determine his activity level and plan

— Kaitlyn McGrath (@kaitlyncmcgrath) July 19, 2024

The Canadian is easily one of this generation’s best hitters. For his 17-year career, all with the Cincinnati Reds, he slashed .294/.409/.511 with 356 home runs in 8746 plate appearances for a 145 wRC+. Without question, Votto will be a Hall of Famer, as he’s accumulated 58.8 fWAR since his big league career started in 2007.

His last good season was in 2021 as a 37-year-old, where he slashed .266/.375/.563 with 36 homers in 533 plate appearances, along with a 14.4 BB% and a 23.8 K% for a 140 wRC+ and a 3.5 fWAR.

Unfortunately, father time has caught up with Votto, as he’s slashed .204/.317/.394 with 25 home runs in 618 plate appearances for a 95 wRC+. Add on top injuries in both years, as well as how the 2024 season has gone, and it’s a pretty brutal way to end a Hall of Fame career.

However, this probably won’t be the last we hear about Votto, because no doubt, he’ll try to finish out the season. If he can return to health, perhaps he’ll be added to the 40-man roster around September and get a call up when the roster expand.

This article first appeared on Bluejaysnation and was syndicated with permission.

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