1. Votto broke his own Reds record for most times on base in a season.
In 2013, Votto broke Pete Rose’s Reds record of 311 times on base in a season, which was set in 1969. Votto finished the year by reaching base 316 times. Votto broke that this season by reaching base 319 times. An impressive thing about that is that Votto had 31 more PA in 2013.
2. Votto tied Rose with 48-game on base streak
Joey Votto reached base in 48 consecutive games between August 11th and October 2nd. That tied the Reds record which was set by Pete Rose in 1978 (the same year that Rose had his 44-game hit streak). It was also the longest streak in the MLB since Kevin Millar’s 52-game streak in 2007 with the Orioles. It was the longest streak in the NL since Barry Bonds’ 58-game streak in 2003.
3. Votto broke his own Reds record for walks in a season
Joey Votto broke his own Reds record of walks in a season with 143. Votto had 135 walks in 2013. Votto’s 143 walks are the 27th most in MLB history. The only players to walk more than 143 times in a season since 1970 are Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Jeff Bagwell. Bonds did so six times, while the McGwire and Bagwell only did it once.
4. Votto’s second half OBP was the fifth best in MLB history
Joey Votto finished the second half with a .535 OBP. There have only been four players in MLB history to have a higher OBP in the second half of a season (minimum 300 PA). Those guys all ended up with pretty nice careers:
Ted Williams: .583 (1941)
Babe Ruth: .552 (1923)
Barry Bonds: .547 (2001)
Rogers Hornsby: .541 (1924)
Joey Votto: .535 (2015)
5. Votto’s career .423 OBP tied for 14th best in MLB history
According to the Fangraphs’ leaderboard of qualified players, Joey Votto’s career .423 OBP is tied for the 14th best in MLB history. Votto’s 157 career wRC+ is tied for the 12th best in MLB history.
6. Votto finished with a 1.000+ OPS for the third time in his career
Joey Votto walked in his final PA of 2015, and that bumped his OPS to a cool 1.000 for the season. Here is the short list of Reds players who had a 1.000+ OPS (minimum 475 PA):
Joey Votto: 2010, 2012, 2015
Frank Robinson: 1960, 1961, 1962
George Foster: 1977
Joe Morgan: 1976
Ted Kluszewski: 1954
7. You could argue that 2015 Votto was better than 2010 Votto
Joey Votto had an incredible 2010 season, and ended up winning the MVP. In 2015, Votto had just as good of a season, or maybe even better. I’ll let you do the comparing:
2010: .324/.424/.600, 37 HR, 172 wRC+, 7.0 fWAR
2015: .314/.459/.541, 29 HR, 172 wRC+, 7.4 fWAR
8. Votto vs other Reds legends through first 9 seasons:
Joey Votto (4,757 PA): .311/.423/.534, 192 HR, 633 RBI, 156 OPS+, 43.2 bWAR
Pete Rose (6,224 PA): .309/.371/.438, 103 RH, 529 RBI, 124 OPS+, 40.0 bWAR
Johnny Bench (5,194 PA): .271/.342/.487, 240 HR, 855 RBI, 131 OPS+, 49.8 bWAR
Barry Larkin (4,424 PA): .296/.330/.431, 87 HR, 471 RBI, 115 OPS+, 38.6 bWAR
Frank Robinson (5,734 PA): .304/.390/.566, 291 HR, 896 RBI, 150 OPS+, 58.8 bWAR
Tony Perez (4,572 PA): .284/.344/.483, 183 HR, 713 RBI, 129 OPS+, 31.1 bWAR
9. Votto just missed leading the league in OBP for a fifth time
Joey Votto finished with an incredible .459 OBP (the 9th best non-Bonds of this millennium). Votto was just one point behind Bryce Harper’s .460 OBP for the best in the MLB. If Votto would have finished ahead of Harper, he would have lead the NL in OBP for an incredible fifth time in his career so far.
10. Joey Votto is a speed demonÂÂ
Votto is certainly not known as a speed threat, but in 2015 he stole the exact same amount of bases as Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen. He had a much better success rate too.
Joey Votto: 11 SB, 3 CS
Mike Trout: 11 SB, 7 CS
Andrew McCutchen: 11 SB, 5 CS
All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference, Baseball-Reference Play Index, and FanGraphs. Most all-time statistics only include games or seasons from 1914 on.