Cincinnati’s Joey Votto made his big-league debut back in 2007 and has played 1,592 games but had never popped out to first base until Wednesday – in his 6,828th career plate appearance.
It’s an absolutely insane statistic considering there were 2,206 pop-outs to first base in the majors in 2018.
On a 3-1 pitch from Dodgers righty Pedro Baez in the eighth inning, Votto popped up and the catch was made by Cody Bellinger in foul territory.
According to Baseball-Reference, Votto had grounded out to first 341 times and lined out to the first baseman on 15 occasions in his 13-year career.
One of the most disciplined hitters in baseball history, Votto has a .310 average and a .426 on-base percentage in his career. He was the National League MVP in 2010.
