The Cincinnati Reds quietly had the best hitter in the National League in 2016. Much was made of Joey Votto’s ability to bat over .400 during the second half of the season. Not as much was made of Votto’s overall batting dominance.
For the third time in his career, Votto led the NL in runs created with 130 in 2016. That was just seven short of American League MVP, Mike Trout. Votto also led the NL in OBP at .434, just .007 short of Trout’s AL leading number.
To understand how much of a waste Votto was in 2016, just look at the Reds’ second best offensive player, Adam Duvall.