Scroll down till you see Joey Votto's picture and the caption "Launch angle hitters are in trouble" http://www.espn.com/blog/buster-oln...irings-by-phone-might-be-jeters-first-mistake Good stuff...more and more hitters/sluggers need to take the same approach as Votto...the game has changed for the worse in the last few years, IMO. Many players love to pick the brain of Reds first baseman Joey Votto, who is generally regarded as perhaps the smartest hitter in the game. On a podcast recently, Votto talked about how he came into this year devoted to the task of cutting down on his strikeouts. Votto had racked up 135 strikeouts in 2015 and 120 in 2016, and in his effort to reduce that this year, Votto decided to cut down on his swing as he got deeper into the count -- choking up a little more after one strike, and even more on two-strike counts. At times, Votto seems to wield his bat like a tennis player at the net, volleying pitches foul just to stay alive. The change in his walk/strike ratios has been exceptional: YEAR WALKS RATE STRIKEOUTS RATE 2015 ....143 ....20.6% .....135 ..............19.4% 2016 ....108 ....16.0% .....120 ..............17.7% 2017 ....129 .....19.2% .......78 ..............11.6% He is one of only three MLB batters qualified for the batting title who have walk/strikeout ratios of 1/1 or better, and along the way Votto has compiled 35 homers, the second-most in his career.
^^^ excellent post, Love what Joey's done this year. Alway's have liked Votto; this year he reminds me a lot of his 2010 MVP campaign, less of course a ton of K's.... Remember back mid-80's; when Ted Williams sat down with Donnie BB and Wade Boggs, and spoke incessentaly on the need to cut down K's while increasing BB's....(all that was documented in SI)...
