Joey Votto shouts out current Brave in retirement announcement

One of this generations best players is calling it career. Joey Votto announced his retirement on social media this afternoon. It was a glorious 17 year career for Votto, and one that should be headed for Cooperstown in five years time.

While Votto did sign a minor league deal with the Blue Jays this season and hoped to play for his home country, he never received the callup to Toronto. But in the most Joey Votto way he said "I'm just not good anymore."

In that long written retirement caption Votto gave some praise to current Brave and former Reds teammate from 2015-2017, Adam Duvall. Votto simply put "Sup bash bro," next to Duvall's name in his caption, surely something each of them know the meaning behind.

Is Joey Votto a future first ballot Hall of Famer?

The canadian first baseman was one this generations best left-handed hitters. Votto took home the 2010 NL MVP, and during his peak was an absolute on-base machine leading the National League in OBP from 2010-2013. His knowledge and control of the strike zone is unlike any we have seen over the past couple of decades.

With a career .294/.409/.511 slash line, 145 wRC+, and 58.8 fWAR it seems Votto should be a lock for Cooperstown. While power may have diminished over the last few years of his career, Votto remained one of the most fun guys to watch and listen to in baseball.

The Reds and Braves never locked up in the postseason, but the regular season matchups were always entertaining and featured two of the league's best first basemen. It seemed just as Joey Votto started to decline, Freddie Freeman started to ascend as the National League's top first baseman. There's no denying the greatness of each Canadian first baseman.

Sadly, it's the last we'll see from Votto on a baseball diamond. However, as someone who's been a huge ambassador for the sport, I'm sure it's not the last we've heard from Mr. Votto.

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