Joey Votto is nervous.
It’s kind of a new feeling for him professionally. For most of his 17-year career, spanning 2,056 games and 8,746 plate appearances, Votto knew exactly what to expect, exactly what he needed to do to be successful.
This time it’s different. The 42-year-old will make his debut on NBC/Peacock’s Sunday Night Baseball pregame show alongside Bob Costas this weekend and will also provide “Inside the Pitch” commentary during the game between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies. He’ll continue to appear on select regular-season broadcasts and will serve as a pregame analyst with fellow recent retirees Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Rizzo for the network’s wild-card coverage this fall.
“The thing I really like to do going into a baseball game is be as prepared as possible, and in such a way that would simplify the game,” Votto said Thursday in a video interview from a dog park in New York City. “And I am finding (a challenge) with this, because I’ve never done this before and because my strengths are specific but the game is vast.”
Even if the other team put a rookie on the mound who had just been called up, at least he had some sort of scouting report and there was a finite number of pitches he could see in his at-bat. From the broadcast booth, there are more unknowns.
“The only time I ever found that I was nervous was when I was ill-prepared,” Votto said. “And I was almost never ill-prepared.”
Votto’s insight — and his ability to express his thoughts on hitting and the game — made him one of the most sought-after broadcast talents following his retirement from baseball in August 2024 after a frustrating 31-game stint in the Toronto Blue Jays’ minor-league system. But he needed a respite first.
“I struggled with the last five-ish years — I wanted to retire when I was 35,” said Votto, who celebrated his 40th birthday during his final season with the Cincinnati Reds in 2023. “I was worn out. Playing hurt wasn’t fun. … I wanted to finish off my career because I viewed it as a responsibility to myself. But I just wasn’t having fun, and fun for me was playing well. And I didn’t even feel like I was playing well anymore.”
Since his retirement, Votto has traveled the world and hasn’t watched much baseball, although he did go to one of the 2025 Tokyo Series games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs as a fan while he was enrolled at the Tokyo Sushi Academy. He also became a certified yoga instructor and generally lived up to his reputation as the most interesting man in baseball — even while away from it.
Joey Votto on his post-retirement world travels
Jayson Stark
With his NBC gig, he’s getting a toe back into the game. He’s also visited the Reds’ Class-A affiliate in Daytona, Fla.
“I love watching kids, specifically future major-league kids, get better. They’ve got a few kids that legitimately have a chance,” Votto said. “I am not a member of the coaching staff; I am not a member of the organization whatsoever. But they were nice enough to let me through the gate and observe and chat with the kids. And you know, I stayed out of the way.”
Votto said the players didn’t really know who he was, but there are pictures of him on the walls of the clubhouse. That’s not unique, though, Votto said. Before he was a Red, he didn’t realize the history of the team and just how good players like Barry Larkin or Eric Davis were before him.
“You don’t even realize how special they are until you get done with 1,000, 1,500, or 2,000 games and realize you’re playing at 40 years old,” Votto said. “How the heck did (Larkin) play so well at 40?”
While Votto has visited the team’s minor leaguers, he said he has no interest in coaching, knowing the commitment and hours that coaches put in.
“There’s a certain amount of willingness to give up your life that coaches have, a full-on dedication,” he said. “This NBC responsibility is once a week, and I can always say no.”
Votto’s last season with the Reds was the same year that the team’s current face of the franchise debuted. Votto said he’d heard about Elly De La Cruz as he was coming up through the minors. But he’d heard about plenty of prospects in his time with the Reds, each supposed to be the next big thing. De La Cruz, though, was different up close.
“I had my doubts,” Votto said. “A longer guy, strikeout guy, error-prone guy in the field, reckless on the bases, reckless at the plate. But he just kept putting together really good seasons, and that’s undeniable after a certain point.”
Up close, it wasn’t De La Cruz’s physical tools that impressed Votto, but the intangibles.
“I think that Elly’s best tool probably is his combination of drive and humility. He has that sort of F-you mentality,” Votto said.
While Votto signed two extensions before he was eligible for free agency, he said he’s not surprised De La Cruz has not. During the spring of 2024, De La Cruz was offered an extension that would’ve eclipsed Votto’s 10-year, $225-million deal as the largest in Reds history.
He speculates that it didn’t help the Reds’ cause that De La Cruz wasn’t permitted to participate in this year’s World Baseball Classic.
“You want to play for your home country — and especially as proud as the Dominican players are, they want to represent their country,” Votto said.
Votto added that he hopes De La Cruz does stay with the Reds for his entire career and is happy that fans have the opportunity to see such a talent on a daily basis.
Recently, a friend asked Votto a hypothetical: Would you rather have a great player for 20 years or win a championship within 20 years?
Votto, who played in 11 postseason games over his 17-year career with the Reds, argued for the former, using his experiences growing up as a Toronto Raptors fan:
“(I) grew up watching Vince Carter in Toronto, who didn’t produce barely a playoff run with Tracy McGrady, but Vince was the icon,” Votto said. “I would rather watch a great player, and why? Because I saw Vince entertain us every day and lose by three points and finish five games under .500. You have that peak moment like when the Raptors won (the 2019 NBA Championship). But those surrounding years, if you tune into a bummy game and you have someone like an Aaron Judge, like a Juan Soto, like a Vince Carter … I feel like there is something to tune in for. You want to tune in and be maximally entertained.”
Votto was one of those players who was great for a long time and played nearly every day. He was entertaining on the field, and he’ll likely continue that in his new role.
“I have as much experience as you possibly can have in the game on the field,” Votto said, “…but I don’t have any experience whatsoever in terms of being able to give the fans, the people tuning in, what they need. I am a little bit nervous going into the game in that way. I am going to try to prepare as well as I possibly can and know both teams, but I don’t know if that’ll carry over. I think I’ll learn.”