Placido Polanco Is a Consistent Hitter, But Joey Votto Is Insane

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Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci recently caught up with 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds and discovered a truly insane stat. In 2,821 career plate appearances in the big leagues, Votto has pulled only one foul ball into the stands. One. And he remembers it like it was yesterday.

From Sports Illustrated (via BLS):

"Sure, I remember it," Votto said. "It was my rookie year
(in 2007). It wasn't that deep — and maybe 20, 30 feet foul. I haven't
hit a long home run foul in my whole career."

I was stunned when Votto told me that. We were talking about pull
hitting last Friday because I was intrigued that he had not hit a home
run to rightfield all year. (Lo and behold, he smacked a Wandy Rodriguez
breaking ball into the rightfield seats about two hours later.)

So what does this have to do with the Phillies? Not a whole lot, but statistical wackiness like this is just mind blowing at times.

There is one Phillies tie-in, however. Votto is one of only 8 other players in all of baseball who has yet to hit a fly ball in the infield in 2012. The only Phillie on the list? Placido Polanco.

>>Joey Votto has only pulled one foul ball into the stands and he still remembers when he did it [BLS]

>>Red-hot Votto staking his claim to title of Best Hitter in Baseball [SI]

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