After a breakout year, Joey Votto now receiving respect he deserves

Joey Votto enters the 2011 season with high expectations following an MVP 2010 campaign

Entering the 2010 season, Joey Votto was a name that not many knew about.  But those who did know, knew just how special a talent this player was. 

After being drafted in the second round of the 2002 draft at the age of 18, he spent parts of 6 years in the Cincinnati system, averaging 20 HR and 86 RBI to go along with a .293 AVG and an .880 OPS between 2004-2007.  After a 2007 season in which he played in the futures game, hitting a home run off Clay Buchholz, he was called up in September, hitting his first career homer in his second at bat.  That was the beginning of the Joey Votto era in Cincinnati.

Votto appeared in 24 games in 2007, and had a great debut in the majors, hitting .321/.360/.907 with 4 homers and 17 RBI in 89 at bats.  In 2008, he would finish 2nd in the rookie of the year voting to Chicago's Geovany Soto, hitting .297 with 24 HR and 84 RBI.  His numbers stayed steady in 2009 while raising his average to .322.  For those first two years, Votto was grossly overshadowed by other first basemen in the NL Central like MVP Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, Derrek Lee, and Lance Berkman, all of whom were MVP candidates as well as seasoned veterans with a reputation for being good players.

In 2010, the disrespect that had haunted Votto's career began to fade a little bit, despite being snubbed in the All-Star voting, needing the fan vote to get into the game.  It was at that point, many came to the defense of Votto, who at that point of the season had a .422 OBP and 1.011 OPS to go along with 22 HR and 60 RBI.  In the second half, Votto became the clear favorite for the MVP award as the Reds were running away with the NL Central lead.  Votto finished the season with 37 homers and 113 RBI to go along with a league leading .424 OBP, .600 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.024.  His .324 batting average was good enough for second in the National League.  The respect he deserved was finally granted to him in November when he was awarded with the NL MVP award.

Prior to the 2011 season, Votto was signed to a 3-year, 32-million dollar extension, keeping him in a Reds uniform through at least 2013.  At just 27 years old, entering the age that is usually the peak years of a baseball players career, the next 3 years- and beyond, promise to be very fun ones in Cincinatti with Votto playing at first base and in the third slot on Dusty Baker's lineup card.