This is Joey Votto's ninth season as an MLB player. He's only played 100 or more games in a season six times and has led the NL in on-base percentage in four of those campaigns (and all of MLB in two). His reputation as a sabermetrics guy precedes him.

So much so that he gets to walk on three-ball counts, now, apparently.

With a man on first and one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Votto worked the count full against Nationals reliever Matt Grace ... and just helped himself to first base after ball three:

Todd Frazier and Jay Bruce followed with back-to-back doubles, plating three runs -- including Votto -- to blow the game wide open. The Reds scored six in the inning and went on to win, 8-2.