Top of the Pop

Devon Young sends along this article on a Joey Votto first:

Joey Votto has done a lot of things in his distinguished 13-year career in the Majors, but the six-time All-Star first baseman did something Wednesday that was a first for him.

He popped up to the first baseman.

This rare event came in the eighth inning of the Reds’ 3-2 loss at Dodger Stadium, where Votto went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts out of the leadoff spot. With a runner at first and two outs, Votto was fooled by a Pedro Baez changeup and lifted the ball into foul territory down the first-base line, where Cody Bellinger settled under it for the catch.

Any Votto pop fly is rare. They have accounted for only 2 percent of his 4,456 career batted balls, and 1.3 percent of his 6,829 plate appearances. That makes Votto one of active big leaguers least likely to hit a popup.

MLB.com

His low pop-up rate is one reason Votto owns a high career BABIP (.352).

from baseballmusings.com http://bit.ly/2GtyXcL