{"id":691973,"date":"2026-05-24T18:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/691973\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T18:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T18:34:14","slug":"the-former-mlb-mvp-who-is-now-a-certified-yoga-instructor-and-sushi-chef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/691973\/","title":{"rendered":"The former MLB MVP who is now a certified yoga instructor and sushi chef"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Joey Votto built one of the most distinctive careers of his baseball generation, spending 17 MLB seasons with the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He won the 2010 National League MVP award, made six All-Star teams and became one of the sport\u2019s great on-base hitters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Yet retirement has not been about sitting with those achievements. Votto has used life after baseball to chase new skills, new places and a different kind of rhythm.<\/p>\n<p>Joey Votto has turned retirement into a global reset<img alt=\"Photo by Andy Lyons\/Getty Images\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"541\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/79a191ca81adeddcf4972ce5966e9a6f.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Photo by Andy Lyons\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A recent report from The Athletic says Votto has earned an official sushi chef accreditation from the government of Japan, adding a serious culinary achievement to his post-playing life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He also became a certified yoga instructor in Cadiz, Spain, showing the same curiosity and discipline that once defined his work at the plate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">His travels have stretched far beyond classrooms and kitchens. Votto has surfed off the coast of Ireland, watched cricket in Dubai and moved through Egypt on \u201ca random bus.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He has also travelled by tuk-tuk in Sri Lanka, choosing experiences that feel far removed from the controlled world of Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That appears to be the point. Votto has spoken about how stepping into unfamiliar places has changed his sense of self.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">He said to The Athetic: \u201cI think exposing yourself to the world and realizing how so few people care [about his MLB career]\u2026 I think it helped my well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Votto is not simply collecting stories; he is building a second act around movement, humility and discovery, proving that even after an elite career, there are still new ways to learn.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Read more:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joey Votto built one of the most distinctive careers of his baseball generation, spending 17 MLB seasons with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,337617,5257,528,258936,591,337618,85,111588],"class_list":["post-691973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-certified-yoga-instructor","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-getty-images","tag-joey-votto","tag-mlb","tag-national-league-mvp-award","tag-sports","tag-the-athletic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}