Longtime Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto announced Wednesday that he has retired.
The 40-year-old made the announcement in a short video on social media Wednesday night accompanied by a longer written post.."I was able to be my best self. I played this sport with every last ounce of my body, heart, and mind. Thank you for everything."' Triple-A team, Votto took a ride across the border to Toronto's downtown stadium, where the Reds had just beaten the Blue Jays 11-7.
"I had moments where I was like, 'Is this the right thing to do?' and, 'Do I want the organization to tell me I'm done?'" Votto said."I just decided, you know, you've played long enough, you can interpret what's going on, and I was awful. I was awful down there." Votto became a free agent last fall after the end of a 12-year, $251.5 million contract with the Reds, who selected him in the second round of the 2002 amateur draft out of Richview Collegiate Institute in Toronto. Cincinnati declined Votto's $20 million option for 2024.Across his 17 big league seasons in Cincinnati, Votto had a .294 batting average with 356 homers, 1,144 RBIs and a .409 on-base percentage in 2,056 games.
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