this was not true<\/a>.)<\/p>\nOnline, praise for the broadcast was effusive. Votto, who spoke to The Athletic by phone last week, said he was appreciative of the positive feedback, but more interested in what he felt were valid criticisms of his performance.<\/p>\n
Some of the asides, like the nachos or reflections on Votto\u2019s career or relationships with players like Rizzo, charmed some viewers and annoyed others, but he had plenty of insight on the Reds, Cubs and the game.<\/p>\n
A 3-time MLB all-star’s trick to reset under pressure<\/p>\n
Elise Devlin<\/p>\n
Votto, who will return for Peacock\u2019s Sept. 20 \u201cSunday Night Baseball\u201d broadcast between Milwaukee and Baltimore before contributing to the network\u2019s playoff coverage, weighed in on his first year of broadcasting, where he can improve and what the future holds.<\/p>\n
Note: Questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n
I really felt like your first broadcast was a lot of fun. How did you feel about the experience?
The group I worked with was excellent, but the more I read the feedback from the public, which is our audience, it was highly positive. I\u2019ll just speak to my performance \u2014 what I want to give the public, the listener, is far more insight, and I want to make sure I don\u2019t distract from the game.<\/p>\n
I think there are some nice, fun moments, but I think my responsibility in the \u201cInside the Pitch\u201d role is to make sure that, of course I am myself, but they\u2019re tuning in for my expertise, for Anthony\u2019s expertise, for Jeff\u2019s expertise. Our former playing days are what we can offer, and I\u2019ll just say for me, I need to do a much better job of giving the viewer how I see the game through the lens of my playing days experience. I can guarantee the next time I work, I\u2019ll be giving much more pointed, helpful replies that can help the person tuning in to better understand some of the nuances of the game.<\/p>\n
I read an article about Tom Brady and the difference between his first and second year, and he had a bit of the same thing where there\u2019s just too much \u2014 where being more to the point with emphasis serves the audience much better, and I\u2019m going to do the same.<\/p>\n
Are you glad you were able to get your first broadcast of a Reds game out of the way early?
I\u2019m glad that I did on the road, if I\u2019m honest. I think that connecting with the fanbase through a road game is probably better. I\u2019m not ready to come back to Cincinnati. I would come back as a fan first.<\/p>\n
What I would really like to do is come through early next year. At some point, I would love to come by and take pictures by the clock (at Great American Ball Park that Votto gave to the team) and say hello and walk through the gate as a fan, much more casually. I haven\u2019t been back to watch a game, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve watched a game as a fan in Cincinnati yet. I did it while I was injured, but I\u2019m talking about going beyond just saying hello to people and doing things more casually. I was glad to do the (Reds) game on the road to focus.<\/p>\n
There were moments where I probably bit my tongue on things because I don\u2019t want to burn bridges or piss people off. Because if I speak too candidly \u2014 clearly the Reds have underperformed. There\u2019s some stuff that needs to be better, and the fans are the ones saying that constantly. So I had to make sure I managed my feedback, and I was maximally supportive.<\/p>\n
I said this on the very last day I left Cincinnati, and this is kind of the point I was trying to make on the broadcast, but St. Louis is quote-unquote baseball heaven. There are players that want to go there. There are free agents that sign because of the nostalgia and the reputation and the history of the Cardinals and how the organization is run from the top to the bottom, and that\u2019s earned. It bothers me that with a longer history, with plenty of prestige and some of the greatest players of all-time and also a city that no matter what, the Reds are the centerpiece of the city, especially when they are doing well. I had to bite my tongue when I came to my hopes for the team long-term because I think the fanbase deserves a lot. I\u2019m not the one signing the checks, and I\u2019m not the one making the decisions, so I have to watch how much I say, but yeah, on the broadcast I had to be more complimentary than critical. It\u2019s fine. I would generally be more critical of a different team, but when you know these people \u2026<\/p>\n
But on the broadcast, you still used \u201cwe\u201d to refer to the Reds.
Well, I\u2019ll always be a Red. I use the word \u201cwe\u201d from the side of the fans, from the side of the players. I say it as a fan because I\u2019ll always be a Cincinnati Red. My family is the fanbase. My family are the players.<\/p>\n
Front offices come and go. Even ownership comes and goes, but I\u2019ll always be a major-league player, and the moment you put that uniform on, you\u2019re a Cincinnati Red. Ask Brandon Phillips. Ask Jay Bruce. Ask Aroldis Chapman. Ask Johnny Cueto. Ask Elly De La Cruz.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll never not be a Cincinnati Red. I tried so hard to be a Toronto Blue Jays fan, but it\u2019s not in me. I tried hard. I signed with the team. I was raised a Toronto Blue Jays fan, but when you spend 24 years with a team, and you\u2019re on the field, and you go to Cincinnati Children\u2019s Hospital, or you go to get coffee, and people come up to say hi, and you know them by eye contact, and you know their first names. \u2026 When you support the Freestore Foodbank, and you go by Cincinnati Public Schools, it\u2019s impossible to transition. As much as I\u2019m going to financially support my communities, I\u2019ll always be a Cincinnati Red, and it\u2019s not possible to be raised in Cincinnati and not feel that way as you get older. You always have a soft spot for it.<\/p>\n
You mentioned being focused more on the game and what is happening on the field, but one of my favorite parts (of the first broadcast) was how you noticed quickly that the first batter of the game\u2019s grounder got stuck in Cubs first baseman Michael Busch\u2019s glove and how the web may have broken. That led to you and Rizzo talking about how to prevent that. That was the first batter, and I thought it set a tone.
This is what we have to give them more of. It\u2019s our obligation that when you tune in and have a specific angle behind the pitcher, you don\u2019t get to see these subtleties that really matter.<\/p>\n
What if that glove breaks and a run scores and you lose by one and you\u2019re (having a), \u201cWhat the f\u2014 is going on?\u201d type of reaction, it\u2019s our obligation to offer it. An adjustment in the box or an adjustment by the pitcher. Does he look hurt? Is this going to affect the next month? \u2014 these are little things that players can see. We can always see everything way before it becomes a reality, and that\u2019s what we have to give the fan because they want inside, as they should. They\u2019re the paying customers. We\u2019re going to give them as much insight as we possibly can. That\u2019s why you have former players who played first or caught or pitched who are able to provide that feedback.<\/p>\n
Do you like sitting near the dugout, close to where you were as a player, or would you prefer to be in the booth?
I don\u2019t really care where I sit; I just want to make sure I serve the public and can give them what they want and the game can breathe. The side is fine. I don\u2019t mind it. I tried really hard to stay out of the game as much as possible until called upon. That\u2019s fine. I see things on the field being that close that I really want to share, but the people in the booth are speaking most of the time, so I didn\u2019t want to pipe up.<\/p>\n
There are plenty of things that I shared \u2014 like the Elly thing, which, by the way, I\u2019ll never take back what I said about Elly being exactly on par with (Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong) despite there being a difference between the two seasons. I think Elly is going to have his own (MVP-type season) at some point, but I think Elly\u2019s going to need to take it just one gear higher and he\u2019ll get there.<\/p>\n
While we\u2019re on current Reds, what do you think of what you\u2019ve seen from Sal Stewart? During the game, there was a graphic showing he had the second-most home runs by a Reds rookie, behind Frank Robinson and ahead of you. What do you think he\u2019ll need to do to take it to the next level?
In my experience, you take one step back and maybe you don\u2019t homer quite as much to be able to get on base a bit more. At some point, you have to do a little less to do more. These guys who homer a lot and don\u2019t get on base. He\u2019s going to have to get better at that. I don\u2019t want to sound critical because he\u2019s had such a great year, but there\u2019s no question about it; there\u2019s more potential there.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d like to see him maybe not homer as much. I saw my slugging percentage go up when, instead of taking that transaction of 15-20 outs to get the homer, you may tack on an extra walk or two or something like that.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an odd thing to ask of a guy who is about to hit 35 or 40 homers and drive in a bunch of runs. It\u2019s a team game and getting on base and running the bases allow for those bigger innings.<\/p>\n
I would say that in time he\u2019s going to have to really refine his game. I\u2019m not saying this because I got on base a lot or comparing him to me; I\u2019d say the same thing about Elly. That\u2019s how he\u2019s getting better. Elly\u2019s getting better at that. These are things you adjust and say, I\u2019m not going to give away so many outs to get my hits and my homers and my RBIs; I\u2019m going to take the walk.<\/p>\n
Just as Stewart is going to make adjustments to his game from his rookie year to the future, how are you working on improving from your rookie year as a broadcaster?
I actually use AI. I throw in all the notes I get from NBC, and then I take the transcript \u2014 I took the NBC transcript from (the Cubs-Reds broadcast) and plopped it into Grok, and I had it provide feedback based on specific parts. I used Vin Scully as a comp, asking it why is Vin Scully more efficient?<\/p>\n
I practice with it. It can banter back and forth with me. We go through broadcast prep, and I tell it, \u201cUpdate yourself based on this particular matchup.\u201d What are the storylines? What would Bob Costas ask me? What would Ahmed (Fareed) ask me pregame? I practice, and then it provides feedback on whether I was efficient enough, whether I had enough volume or if I changed my tone, whether I was finishing the point. Whether I was adding commas or using \u201cso,\u201d \u201cand\u201d and \u201cvery\u201d too much or adding hyperbole or whatever it is. I do that before each round, and it helps a little bit. It\u2019s been a really helpful tool.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re not only taking feedback from AI, but also from what people are saying online? You\u2019ve actually gone into the comments?
I don\u2019t know enough about this, so I\u2019m going to take the public\u2019s feedback. I love when people are emotional and say I\u2019m a f\u2014ing idiot because of my take. That doesn\u2019t bother me. What bothers me is \u201cwhy are you talking so much?\u201d Or \u201cwhy are you so long-winded\u201d or \u201cget to the f\u2014ing point.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like when I played \u2014 it never bothered me when people said, \u201cWhy aren\u2019t you driving in runs?\u201d It would bother me if people said, \u201cHe doesn\u2019t get the job done\u201d or \u201cHis swing sucks\u201d or \u201cHe\u2019s not as good as this person or that person.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s more about the product and less about the style of the product.<\/p>\n
I s\u2014 on the Cubs a couple of times and the fans reacted emotionally, as they should. They should defend themselves and tell me that I\u2019m a f\u2014ing idiot. Which is absolutely fair and part of the reaction I\u2019m looking for.<\/p>\n
This is just the start of your broadcasting career. Is this something you wish to do long-term?
I don\u2019t know yet. I don\u2019t have that answer yet. I\u2019m enjoying it, though. It\u2019s more about whether I feel like I\u2019m helping. I have to feel like I\u2019m helping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Joey Votto celebrates his 43rd birthday on Thursday, the former Cincinnati Reds first baseman is enjoying being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2319,363,99],"class_list":["post-842827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-cincinnati-reds","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}