It was an interesting question to ask Joey Votto even before he started hitting home runs at an advanced pace. The Cincinnati Reds first baseman has seven homers through his first 22 games, giving him a home run rate of 7.5 percent. It’s incredibly early – there’s little chance Votto finishes the year with a .238 average and .330 on-base percentage – but he’s on pace for 51 long balls.
Other players have sold out for power by making changes to their swing, engineering an uppercut stroke that maximizes fly balls. The 33-year-old Votto does not belong to that club, and offered his opinions on the wave of swing-changers before he went on his recent run of hitting four home runs in the span of nine games.