CLEVELAND – Joey Votto has always choked up on the bat, at least as long as he’s been a professional.

When he was 18 and in the Gulf Coast League, fresh off of being selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the 2002 draft, then Reds roving hitting instructor Leon Roberts drilled it into his head. With two strikes, you choke up.

In recent years, Votto has transitioned to choking up all the time. With relievers throwing harder and harder – and his physical skills supposedly not what they used to be – Votto feels like his margin for error is thinner than ever.

“Sometimes if a guy’s super filthy, I’ll start it even higher, earlier in the count,” Votto said. “Just because they’re so good.”

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Votto is something less than a choke-up evangelist, and will dispassionately tell you about the power-related opportunity cost of adopting a two-strike approach. So far as his teammates tell it, he doesn’t impose his hitting philosophies on anyone else.

But several Reds hitters have been paying attention to Votto, who is hitting .299/.422/.591 so far in 2017. They’ve seen how rare it is for him to truly get beat, and how he’s striking out less than ever. Now many of them are choking up, too.

“You see Joey do it," said catcher Tucker Barnhart, "and there’s obviously a reason why Joey’s doing it."

Barnhart has always choked up with two strikes, but has started to adopt a two-strike mentality to start at-bats after hearing Votto explain his thought process. Jose Peraza has begun choking up as well. So are Scott Schebler and Eugenio Suarez.

Schebler had never been taught to choke up, not in high school nor when he was a prospect working through the minor-league system of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Just in the last few days, he’s taken every swing in batting practice gripping the bat higher on the handle. Even when he drops down to his normal grip for the game, his swing feels more direct.

Suarez only started choking up last weekend against the Colorado Rockies. Like Votto, he chokes up for every pitch, regardless of the situation. Initially, he was concerned he’d lose power, which is normally the trade-off of adopting a two-strike approach. With more bat control comes less torque.

He’s been doing it for the last 22 plate appearances, and has been pleasantly surprised.

"Now I have three homers when I choke up," Suarez said. "My power’s still there.”

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This of course raises the questions of why hitters are hesitant to choke up in the first place, at least when down to their last strike. The cost-benefit analysis of missing a pitch in those situations is so obviously in favor of shortening your swing that it seems foolish to not alter it.

That’s an issue hitting coach Don Long faces constantly. He said he has hitters he wants to adopt the approach, but “it’s all about timing” as to when he broaches the subject. Successful changes to a hitter's approach aren’t mandated from on high.

Hitters, with guidance from Long and assistant hitting coach Tony Jaramillo, have to come to that conclusion on their own. That can often mean swallowing pride in favor of pragmatism.

“With some guys, it’s a matter of they’ve never done it before and are a little fearful to try it,” Long said. “With certain other individuals – and I’m not saying our guys, because I haven’t had that conversation directly – it’s an ego-driven thing.

“It’s like giving in, when really for me it’s nothing about that. In my opinion, it’s about being smarter about what you’re doing.”