If Votto were to ever waive his no-trade clause, you’d suppose it would have to be for a team that had a chance to win. Sentiment wouldn’t figure in the decision. Sentiment might in fact work against the Jays if the Reds ever wanted to go down that road. Votto has talked before about how he likes playing in Cincinnati because it allows him his privacy when he comes back to Toronto to spend time with his mother and younger twin brothers. That would be utterly out the window if he were to play for his hometown team. He has grown and matured — he has his own phone and will in time have a nine-figure net worth. And yet he holds on to some things that he doesn’t want to change, some things that are woven into his fabric.



“I was always fine being on my own, comfortable in my own company. I’m more naturally introverted. I have a great time with my teammates and I get along with just about everybody. But I’m more inclined to do things solo. In the off-season when it’s time to play catch, I do exactly what I did when I was eight years old. I go to the playground and find a wall and a ball and I’ll start throwing, first close, then stretching it out. I get everything I need out of that. I do it every night. I could do other things, maybe, but I get everything I need out of that.”



Joey Votto looks at the digital clock on the wall. He is minutes away from taking his cuts in BP. “What I’ve learned over the years is to focus and limit the distractions,” he says, and with that he heads out of the clubhouse to the field at the Great American Ball Park. If he was striving to be boring, private and focused, his slash line was .312, .425 and .962.