has stepped away from baseball. The star first baseman, who had been on a minor league contract with the Blue Jays, announced his retirement on Wednesday evening. He didnt get to the majors with his hometown team but played an illustrious 17-year career with the Reds. Votto provided a lengthy statement alongside a brief video of him departing Sahlen Field, home of the Jays Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo. Votto thanked his family, various former teammates and coaches, and the fans. He expre sed some regret that he wasnt able to make it to the big leagues with the Jays, adding that hes just not good anymore before thanking the Canadian fanbase for their support and expre sing his love for Cincinnati. I was myself in this sport. I was able to be my best self. I played this sport with every last ounce of my body, heart, and mind. Thank you for everything , he concluded. The Reds drafted Votto out of a Toronto prep school in 2002. Hed emerged as one of Baseball Americas top 50 prospects by the time he hit his way to Triple-A five years later. Votto debuted as a September call-up in 07. He hit the ground running in 24 games and would break through as their everyday first baseman the following year. Votto hit .297/.368/.506 with 24 homers and 32 doubles in his first full season. He finished runner-up to Cubs catcher in Rookie of the Year balloting. Votto emerged as an elite hitter by year two, hitting .322/.414/.567 with 25 longballs and 38 doubles. He finished in the top 10 among qualifiers in all three slash stats. That kicked off a nearly decade-long run during which Votto was among the games best players. He had arguably his best season in 2010. Votto led the majors with a .424 on-base percentage and topped the National League with an even .600 slugging mark. He hit .324 with 37 homers and a career-best 113 runs batted in. It was a dominating performance by counting and rate stats alike that nabbed him a rather convincing win over and in NL MVP balloting. Votto was the best player on a Cincinnati team that won 91 games and an NL Central title. It was the first of four straight seasons in which the lefty hitter topped the NL in on-base percentage. He led the league in walks every year from 2011-13. His extraordinarily patient approach occasionally made him a target Darrell Armstrong Jersey of criticism among some fans who preferred he were more aggre sive, but Votto also filled a prototypical run producer role. He ranked 20th in RBI and 21st in homers among MLB hitters between 2010-13. Among hitters with 1500+ plate appearances, only and hit for a better average. Votto led the majors in OBP and ranked seventh in slugging. Votto made the All-Star Game in all four seasons and thrice finished in the top 10 in MVP voting. Cincinnati made the playoffs in three of those years, although they never advanced past the Division Series. Midway through that run, the Reds committed to Votto as the face of their franchise. They signed him to a 10-year, $225MM extension early in the 2012 season. It remains the biggest investment in the organizations history. While the team didnt have a ton of succe s over the decade, thats not any fault of their first baseman. He remained an impact hitter until the tail end of the contract. A quad injury wiped out the bulk of Vottos 2014 campaign. He returned at full strength the following year, hitting .314/.459/.541 to snag a third-place MVP finish. He would lead the NL in on-base percentage in each of the three seasons after that, earning two more top 10 MVP placements in the proce s. Between 2015-18, he hit .312/.442/.525 with 106 homers while walking more often than he struck out. The 2018 season was the final of Vottos six All-Star campaigns. His production tailed off between 2019-20 and it seemed hed firmly entered the decline phase of his career. While that was the case to some extent, Votto had one more excellent year ahead of him. He rebounded with a surprising 36-homer outburst (tied for the second-most he hit in any season) with a .266/.375/.563 slash in 2021. That proved to be his last strong season, as he stumbled to replacement level numbers while battling shoulder i sues between 2022-23. Votto earned a from Cincinnati fans in his final game at Great American Ball Park last September. The guaranteed portion of his contract wrapped up and the Reds made the obvious call to buy him out in lieu of a costly club option for 2024. Votto signed the minor league deal with the Jays during the only free agent trip of his career. He suffered an ankle injury in his first Spring Training game, keeping him on the IL well into July. Votto returned to action midway through the month but hit .143 in 15 Triple-A contests before deciding it was time to move on. While that keeps him from ever appearing in a Jays uniform at Rogers Centre, it allows him to retire having spent his entire MLB career with one team. Hes one of the best players in Reds history and is among the most productive first basemen in league history. Votto will surely garner serious Hall of Fame consideration when his name appears on the ballot in five years. By Jay Jaffes (designed to provide a comparison point for players against Hall of Famers), Votto ranks 12th among first basemen. The 11 players above him are either in the Hall of Fame or, in the cases of Pujols and Cabrera, locks for induction when first eligible. The player just behind Votto, , is not in the Hall, largely because of his ties to performance-enhancing drugs. The following three players , and were all inducted. Votto didnt provide quite the level of power a sociated with a Hall of Fame first baseman. He steps away with 356 homers (29th at the position) and 1144 runs batted in (49th). Those are no small accomplishments for the vast majority of players, of course, but Vottos overall excellence was driven primarily by his on-base ability. He finishes his career with a .294 average and a huge .409 on-base percentage. He led the NL in the latter category on seven occasions. While Votto surprisingly never won a Silver Slugger award overlapping in the NL with Pujols and during his prime played a role he had six top 10 MVP finishes. He earned a Gold Glove in 2011 and the aforementioned MVP honors the year prior. Baseball Reference valued Vottos career around 64 wins above replacement, while FanGraphs credited him with 59 WAR. Thats right at the threshold at which position players tend to receive legitimate Hall of Fame consideration. Votto would certainly have offers to stay involved in the game if he wishes to do so. He complemented his litany of on-field accomplishments with a cerebral approach to hitting and a sarcastic wit thatd no doubt provide coaching or media opportunities if he wanted to take them. Votto didnt tip his hand in his retirement announcement about any plans for the future. We at MLBTR congratulate him on a fantastic career and wish him the best in his post-playing days. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports. Dominique Wilkins Jersey