CINCINNATI – Joc Pederson greeted Joey Votto at first base after working a walk when the Reds were in Los Angeles two weeks ago. They had never met, but Pederson was delighted to speak to a hitter he idolizes.

Votto asked him how he was doing. Using the parlance of young athletes worldwide, Pederson said he was grinding away, day after day.

“He goes, ‘Yeah, I grind every day,’” Pederson recalled. “That means a lot coming from one of the best hitters in the game. He says you need to continue to grow and learn. He’s growing every day. He’s going through things. It’s not like this one thing clicked and it was perfect from then on.”

For much of this season, since his early-season power surge came to an abrupt halt, Pederson searched for that thing. He has accepted, now, that it does not exist. Viewed from that perspective, his recent play is somewhat of a success.

He lost his job as the Dodgers’ starting center fielder, his batting average is lower than it’s been since the season’s first week and he has hit only three home runs since July began. But, in August, he has decreased his strikeout rate, and he leads the major leagues in walk rate.

Second in that category, Votto knows all of that about Pederson, knows the potential he has. The two men shared further conversation after two more walks in that series and again Thursday at Great American Ball Park, when Pederson walked in the eighth inning.

Votto, 32 in two weeks, felt it important to stress the message to Pederson, 23.

“I was told that when I was younger, and that helped me a great deal, because I always thought it was supposed to be smooth sailing,” Votto said this week. “It doesn’t get easier. It’s actually gotten harder as I’ve gotten older. That doesn’t mean I won’t be successful in the future or I can’t be successful now, but don’t assume it’s going to be easy.”

Votto has seen it, by now, enough times to recognize when he’s seeing it. Confident, successful ballplayers get their confidence shattered by a spate of poor play, to the point where they begin to doubt themselves.

“I think young players need to know that a guy like Mike Trout is the exception,” Votto said. “He’s a guy that has a good time and still kicks (butt) and is the best no matter what. For the rest of us mere mortals, we have to stick to it and go through some rough stretches.”

“There’s something satisfying about overcoming those stretches where you’re (expletive), where you don’t think you can do it, when you realize, ‘Oh, man, I overcame that.’”

Pederson has not yet found that sense of satisfaction at this level. He did in the minors. Here, he has relied on a different source. The highs from last month’s All-Star appearance, along with the lows after the break, taught him how to compartmentalize positive and negative feelings – or, as he put it it, how to separate things.

“Every pitch, every at-bat,” Pederson said. “That was an awesome moment, an awesome opportunity I had the whole All-Star weekend. And it showed me how much ability I really do have. It’s encouraging. After all the struggles, the learning curve, the stuff that’s gonna go on your whole career, as Votto says, at least I know I’m extremely fortunate and blessed with ability that God gave me.

“I’m not worried. I’m not panicked. I’m here, happy, and ready to help the team, whatever it is. Right now, we’re at the time where we need to win ballgames and put the best team out there. That’s not me right now.”

The Dodgers’ field staff and front office are in apparent agreement, hence the acquisition of Chase Utley. When Manager Don Mattingly announced Kiké Hernandez would supplant Pederson in center, he framed it like the decision could be reserved if he made changes to his swing that allowed him to resume hitting the ball hard.

“There’s a month left in the season,” Pederson said. “If you don’t have it now, good luck. Obviously, there are some changes that need to be made this offseason.”

Part of those changes may be deciding what he wants to be.

“Joc has so much potential that it can be a gift and a curse,” Votto said. “There are so many different avenues you want to go down. And it might not be the one that leads to the most success, the most consistency. He’s in a tough situation, you know? Sometimes players try to be something they’re not.”

Votto has heard the complaints about Pederson’s batting average. Early in his career, he cared only about his home runs and his average. Now, he cares not, preferring to focus on the direction and trajectory of the balls he puts into play, and how much he’s striking out and walking. Those are the elements he can control. He cannot fully control his average, which sunk to .255 a year ago before returning to MVP-like levels this season. And neither can Pederson.

“He’s doing so many other valuable things,” Votto said. “He plays center field, he hits for power, he gets on base, and you can’t ignore that. Nobody wants to see a low batting average, because it doesn’t reflect well, but you can’t deny the value of what he’s doing.

“I think it’s just gonna take time for baseball and baseball people to evolve and look at players like that and still see that he’s doing more than just looking good on the back of a baseball card. He’s helping us score.”

Votto was not an All-Star this year, a fact that seems unfathomable now that his OPS is fourth in the majors. And so, this week, he asked if Pederson started the All-Star Game. Told that he did, Votto shook his head.

“That’s a lot,” he said. “You think to yourself, ‘Well, I made the All-Star team doing this. Why isn’t it working now?’ But I’ve found that as I’ve gotten older, not assuming that I’m that good has helped me a lot. Shrinking down my game and trying to keep things as simple as possible, assuming that I’m probably going to fail so I need to counter that.”

NOTES

Mattingly said the team is considering adding a sixth starter once to give the current starters additional rest. The Dodgers have only two off days in the season’s final month. Candidates would include Triple-A right-handers Mike Bolsinger, Joe Wieland and Zach Lee or left-hander Ian Thomas. …

Minor-league manager Bill Haselman will manage the Dodgers’ Arizona Fall League affiliate again this year. The Glendale Desert Dogs’ campaign will run from Oct. 13 to Nov. 21. Prospects from the Dodgers and four other teams will fill their roster. …

The Dodgers officially released Alberto Callaspo on Thursday. They had designated him for assignment last week.

Contact the writer: pmoura@ocregister.com