Sports Illustrated Top 75 Prospects; Joey Votto #32

Bryan Smith, formerly of The Baseball Analysts and now contributes to The Hardball Times, Baseball Prospectus and Baseball America, also contributed to SI to make his Top 75 list and is releasing it 15 players at a time. Tomorrow the top 15 should be released.


Photo by Tim Evearitt

32. Joey Votto, 23, 1b, Cincinnati Reds
2006 Stats (AA): .319/.408/.547, 24 SB in 508 AB

Votto is the rare prospect who finds himself in the middle of the contact skills, power and intelligence Venn diagram. While the power is obvious, Votto's smarts are more subtle: He has fantastic patience, plus-baserunning instincts and has become a plus-defender at first base. After striking out 54 times in his first 56 games, Votto began making contact more often, whiffing just 55 times in his last 80 games. Very nearly a polished product, Votto's only remaining work is an improvement against southpaws after slugging .399 against left-handers in 2006. Nonetheless, he remains an early 2008 Rookie of the Year favorite.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/01/19/prospects.partiii/1.html