The Cincinnati Reds have today off as they travel from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest to start a weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals, looking to make it three straight road series wins after taking two of three in both Colorado against the Rockies and in Seattle against the Mariners. But just because there’s no game doesn’t mean there’s no news or nothing of note to talk about. Joey Votto will be returning to your television set this weekend as a part of the Sunday Night Baseball crew on NBC.
Votto, who signed with NBC during the offseason to be one of their analysts, will be on the broadcast for the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park. He will be in Philadelphia and handle some pre-game duties alongside Bob Costas and then be a “go-to” guy during the game to provide some analysis in what sounds like a “Jim Day” type of role that pops up every so often throughout the game.
Back in 2022 Joey Votto found himself on the injured list and during his time on the injured list he headed to the broadcast booth on the television side of things, joining John Sadak and Barry Larkin a few times. Votto told Mark Sheldon of Reds.com back then that he had been asked, during his career, to join broadcasts and maybe do the playoffs but that he had declined or just was not available when asked.
But after retiring in 2024 he didn’t jump right into any sort of baseball media job. But in January he, along with several other recently retired players, joined NBC as a part of their crew. There was a big deal made about it, but it’s pretty much been a big dud to this point. That isn’t because of how the now former players have been on the broadcast, but more so because they haven’t been on broadcasts. Clayton Kershaw has done one game. Joey Votto has done zero. The season is 100+ games in and while NBC doesn’t have tons of games, they’ve got plenty of them and two thirds of their big spring training announcement of additions have been a part of one broadcast.
Down on the Farm
Keith Law of The Athletic just updated his Top 70 Prospects in baseball list this morning. You will need a subscription to read the list and what he wrote about each player. But I can tell you that only one player from the Cincinnati Reds organization made the list. Catcher Alfredo Duno came in at #28 overall. That’s up from #80 before the season began.
Duno, who entered the year as the Reds #1 prospect on my list and remains so today, has spent time in High-A Dayton with the Dragons and Double-A Chattanooga with the Lookouts this season. He’s played in 78 games between the two stops and is hitting .263/.389/.516 with 16 doubles, 19 home runs, 57 walks, and 89 strikeouts. His 19 home runs are a new career high – topping the 18 he hit last year with Single-A Daytona where he won the Florida State League’s Most Valuable Player award.
Out in Arizona the Reds rookie-level team that plays in the complex league clinched a playoff spot with a win in their regular season finale. They don’t know if they have won the division or will be the wild card as that depends on whether the Angels team wins or loses their regular season finale this afternoon.
The rest of the teams in the farm system have seasons that extend much deeper into the summer. The two teams in the Dominican Summer League didn’t begin play until June and their season will end in four weeks. Daytona and Daytona will play their regular season into the first week of September, while Chattanooga plays into the second week of September, and then Louisville wraps up the regular season on September 20th.
For those who keep tabs on these kinds of things, only one team in the US has a losing record on the Reds farm. The Daytona Tortugas are 36-54 on the year. Their first half was very, very bad. But in the second half they are 15-9 and leading their division. Single-A, High-A, and Double-A all play halves that award the division winners a playoff spot. Dayton won the division in first half and is 50-40 on the year.
Down in the Dominican Summer League the Reds have two teams in the 51-team league. The DSL Reds are 21-14 and in 2nd place in their division. The DSL Rojos are 17-19 and in 4th place in their division.
