John Fay

jfay@enquirer.com

Joey Votto still hopes to play this season.

"I'm always hopeful," Votto said.

Votto has been on the disabled list since July 8 with a distal quadriceps strain. It's the same injury that had him on the DL from May 21 to June 10. Votto had significant discomfort after taking ground balls a week and a half ago, but he's made progress since.

"I started hitting off the tee a little bit, taking some ground balls and moving a little bit," Votto said. "I feel like I'm making daily progress."

With 19 games remaining after Sunday, you can make a strong argument that it's best for Votto to shut it down and simply move on and try to get ready for next season.

"That's never my choice," he said. "That will never be my choice. If I play the last inning of the last game, then so be it. If that's the first time I'm ready, then I'll come in and play then -- or if it's tomorrow.

"I've always made it clear that the second that when I can come back and not be in a similar situation that I was before when things consistently got worse and I was a detriment to the team, I'll be back playing."

Votto is confident that he can come back and be 100 percent for 2015.

"I would certainly like to think that," he said. "I went into the season this year at 100 percent. I made the comment that I felt last year I was still recovering from the surgeries. I wasn't where I wanted to be strength-wise. I came into this season truly feeling like myself, feeling like I was back to pre-surgery.

"I had a setback. I'd like to think that next year I'll be 100 percent."

Votto's numbers back up that assertion that he was 100 percent when this year began. He played all 162 games in 2012. He hit .305/.435/.491. His slugging percentage was down from .567 in '12 -- the year he had two surgeries on his left knee.

But he started this year like the old Votto. He was hitting .309/.452/.506 on April 25. But the quad/knee began bothering him. He hit .182/.348/.364 over 16 games before going on the disabled list.

He hit well after his return -- until the knee/quad began bothering him again.

When he went on the DL this time, he received two PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injections. Votto would not talk about PRP. PRP is used to promote healing. But initially after the treatments it causes inflammation in the affected area because it increases blood flow.

Players usually do not get PRP during the season because it takes longer to recover.