In a season that’s been short on positive news, the Toronto Blue Jays are close to getting something to celebrate.
On Wednesday, Blue Jays manager John Schneider revealed to reporters that potential future Hall-of-Famer Joey Votto has made “the most progress in quite some time.”
“He’s actually getting pretty close to playing in (minor-league) games,” Schneider added.
The Toronto-native signed with the Blue Jays in March to a minor-league deal after spending 17 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. The 40-year-old joined the Canadian team for spring training in Dunedin, Fla.
In Votto’s first preseason at-bat for the Blue Jays, he homered the very first pitch he saw from Philadelphia Phillies star Zack Wheeler. However, the excitement was short-lived as he stepped on a bat and rolled his right ankle shortly thereafter.
In May, Schneider said that Votto prefers to take things slow to ensure he’s putting himself in the best position to succeed.
“He was pretty adamant about being 100 per cent physically before he really stepped on the gas,” Schneider recalled. “So, I think, out of fairness to him, (he expressed) that even when he came in, before he got hurt. It was just like, ‘I want to make sure that I’m really ready before I go.'”