This season, I’ve been writing mostly about the young ‘uns and how they’re doing. But today, I need to do something a little different.

Everyone, I’m sure, remembers that during April and May last year, Joey Votto wasn’t being Joey Votto. he struggled for a while before transforming himself into the offensive monster we’re all generally used to. This year, he hasn’t missed a beat. Oh, sure, there’ve been weeks here and there, but we’ve reached a point now where we’ve seen a full year of offensive excellence from Joseph Daniel.

Over the last calendar year, these are Joey Votto’s numbers:

694 Plate Appearances

195 Hits

39 Doubles

2 Triples

34 Home Runs

115 Runs

109 RBI

119 Walks

92 Strikeouts

.347 AVG

.458 OBP

.605 SLG

Stop for a minute. Just stop. Go back and look at that. Those numbers are insane.

If that occurred over the course of one season, instead of stretched across two, it would represent a career high in OPS, AVG, SLG, Runs, hits, and extra-base hits. And a career low in strikeouts. It misses his career high in homers by 3. HIs career high in OBP by .001, his career high in RBI by 5.

Decline? What decline.