Cincinnati Reds skipper Bryan Price wants Joey Votto back

At a time of the season when many non-contenders are deciding to simply shut down players dealing with lingering injuries, the Cincinnati Reds are bucking the trend.

Manager Bryan Price told MLB.com that he would like to get injured first baseman Joey Votto back in the lineup this season.

"“I think we’ve tried to stay the course with the expectation of getting him on the field when he’s ready yet. There’s been improvement since we were on the road; things got better, but there hasn’t been enough of an introduction to baseball activity to know how he’s going to be able to respond.”"

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Votto has been out since July 6 with a strained right quadriceps and his recovery has gone slowly.

The 30-year-old former MVP has played in only 62 games this season and has put up a .255/.390/.409 slash line with 16 doubles, six homers and 23 RBI.

Votto, one of baseball’s most patient hitters, will have a four-year streak of leading the National League in on-base percentage snapped this season. He played in 162 games last year and drew 135 walks.

"“We’re all fighting to try and finish this season on some sort of a positive note,” Price said. “It’s been a very challenging second half to the season and I think having Joey back on the field, if he’s physically capable of playing and we’re not going to risk creating a further injury problem, that it would make sense to do that.”"

The Reds went into Saturday with a 66-75 record, 11 games out of first place in the NL Central and eight games out of the second wild-card spot. Cincinnati has made the playoffs three of the last four seasons.

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Cincinnati Reds skipper Bryan Price wants Joey Votto back this year

By Phil Watson | Sep 6, 2014