Joey Votto

We were fortunate enough to be among the first to recognize Joey Votto. He also had championship caliber makeup. Though it was expensive, he went from an event in Ft Myers back to Canada and showed up to attend the PG National at Tropicana Field the very next week. His performance in Ft Myers earned him an invite to the National and he was there. He showed that great swing at both places. Scroll down and read the reports.

Joey Votto

A few tidbits...

Two years ago, an article appeared in the Myrtle Beach Sun news about Coastal Carolina's recruiting of a prospect named Stephen Matz of New York. In it, Coach Gilmore expressed his reservations about getting Matz on campus in light of what happened with Joey Votto. As it turned out, Matz was a 2nd rounder and never attended Coastal.

In Votto's case, when Coastal became aware of him from one of their camps or tournaments, they could not believe what they were seeing (overwhelming talent in their estimation). More incredulously, they were stupified to find out that Votto had not received any offers from any colleges at that time. Given that, Coastal became suspicious and started doing research on Votto. Coach Gilmore who was a pro scout for many years, contacted all his pro scouting resources in Canada and the northern parts of the US and not ONE of them had heard of Votto. Nevertheless, Coastal made an offer an signed Votto to an NLI. Fast forward a few weeks after the college committment and Votto attended some of the events PG is talking about and a buzz indeed was generated. The way it was presented in the article I read is that Votto came onto the map when he attended a pre-draft workout for the Reds where he hit one upper deck shot after another. The Reds were so impressed they made him a first rounder and Votto has never disappointed. I don't claim to be an expert on the whole thing but from the article I read, Votto spent almost his whole high school career as an unknown prospect.

PG - no problem if you want to add or amplify or modify any parts of the story that are different from my recollection.

Stories tend to get confusing. Truth is, Votto went to the National in June of 2001, a full year before he was drafted, so every MLB club saw him.

At that event every MLB club had scouts in attendance. Also, over half of the 30 scouting directors were there as well as pretty much every top college program and 5 months before the early signing period. So every MLB scouting department saw Joey Votto a full year before the draft. Typically MLB clubs only invite those to their MLB Stadium predraft workout who they consider good draft picks. Unknowns wouldn't be invited. I do believe that he became a second rounder that day.

Votto was a 3B back in 2001. I believe he ended up being drafted by the Reds as a catcher. He did not play for any of the Canadian high profile programs. That was why he was so unknown early on. It sure doesn't surprise me that the coaches at Coastal were among the first to recognize Votto's ability early on. They are among the best at that.

There were only 124 players at that PG National, 18 ended up being drafted in the first round. Several others, including Votto, were drafted in the 2nd round. Here are some of the kids who were at that 2001 National at Tropicana Field and have appeared in the Big Leagues.

Jeff Clement
Prince Fielder
Alex Gordon
Scott Kazmir
Jensen Lewis
John Mayberry Jr
Lastings Milledge
Scott Moore
Cliff Pennington
Shane Robinson
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
Gabby Sanchez
Sergio Santos
Denard Span
BJ Upton
Joey Votto

BTW, scroll down a bit on this link to Matz. He also was at a PG National at the Metrodome a full year before being drafted.

Matz

why did he get a 9 and not a 10?

rowandfan,

That is a good question. I went back to our database to look at the notes. He was a 3B back then and showed decent arm strength but his lateral movement and glove were just OK. He looked like a tough projection at a position. Later they made him a catcher and also played him in the outfield. Still the bat alone should have made him a 10.

Also back in 01 I think we were grading on a bit different scale. It was actually harder to get a high grade because we didn't use the either/or College/Pro approach to the grades back then.

All that said, as much as we liked Joey Votto, we missed it by not grading him a 10. The first time we graded Prince Fielder we gave him something like a 6.5. That later became a 10 the next time we saw him.

Wish we would get it right all the time, but we don't.

great story but I hope he doesn't beat out Albert this year as batting champion and make him loose his chance at the triple crown.

quote:

Originally posted by PGStaff:
rowandfan,

That is a good question. I went back to our database to look at the notes. He was a 3B back then and showed decent arm strength but his lateral movement and glove were just OK. He looked like a tough projection at a position. Later they made him a catcher and also played him in the outfield. Still the bat alone should have made him a 10.

Also back in 01 I think we were grading on a bit different scale. It was actually harder to get a high grade because we didn't use the either/or College/Pro approach to the grades back then.

All that said, as much as we liked Joey Votto, we missed it by not grading him a 10. The first time we graded Prince Fielder we gave him something like a 6.5. That later became a 10 the next time we saw him.

Wish we would get it right all the time, but we don't.

I think that its cool that you didn't give him a 10 actually.... it proves that predicting is just that... a prediction.

I can't wait to here the story of the kid you guys give a 6 who turns out to be a star. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it would be a sick story line.

I can give you a 6.5 that has ended up being a star. At his first PG showcase event Tyler Hanover was rated a 6.5 by PG. He is now the starting 2B for the LSU Tigers. He just played in the Cape Code League All Star game.

I had the pleasure of coaching Tyler in summer baseball while in HS. I give credit to PG for rating him properly at that first event because he was a 6.5 at that time at best. Every time he showed up he was better. By the time he was a sr in HS he was one of the best mif prospects in the country. At a whopping 5'6 150 lbs.

I know PG is not perfect. But I have been absolutely amazed at how good they are at what they do. They are simply the best.