Votto mans 1B in Minors, gears up for return

ST. LOUIS -- When the Reds open their first homestand with full capacity at Great American Ball Park on Tuesday, first baseman Joey Votto could be back in their lineup.

During his rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville on Saturday, Votto collected three hits and finished a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. But the most important point about Votto’s night vs. St. Paul was the status of his left thumb.

Votto, who is recovering from a fractured left thumb, played first base for the first time during the game and was able to catch throws.

“They said it was a little bit sore but manageable,” Reds manager David Bell said Sunday. “I’m starting to sense that he’s ready to come back. We’ll see, not getting ahead of ourselves. We’ll let him play today [at Louisville], and if everything goes well, I do think there’s a chance he would be back with us on Tuesday.”

Votto, 37, has been on the 10-day injured list since May 7, after he was hit by a pitch on the hand while facing White Sox pitcher Dallas Keuchel two days prior. For the first four games of his rehab assignment, Votto served as Louisville’s designated hitter.

The Reds have been trying to find ways to install enough padding in Votto’s glove to make it as comfortable as possible to play.

Bell wasn’t as concerned about how Votto did at the plate for Louisville.

“It’s always better to get hits and have success. Really, I don’t pay a ton of attention to the results,” Bell said. “It can be challenging in different ways playing in the Minor Leagues -- playing in Triple-A, especially for Major League players -- on a rehab assignment. There are a lot of different things. The results were nice for Joey. I think it will help him feel more ready, so that was good.”

Kolozsvary an American Olympian

A Reds prospect helped lead Team USA to a 4-0 record this week in the 2021 Olympic qualifying tournament. Following Saturday’s 4-2 win over Venezuela, Double-A Chattanooga catcher Mark Kolozsvary will be headed to Tokyo for the Olympic games with a roster that carries some former Reds, including Todd Frazier and Homer Bailey.

Starting all four games behind the plate, Kolozsvary batted .417 (5-for-12) with two home runs. Bell enjoyed watching the 25-year-old play during Spring Training.

“I think it's really cool with what's happened to him with his progress over the last two or three years,” Bell said. “He always stood out to us in Spring Training, just the way he went about his work. He's a well-liked teammate and he has a good personality and everything, but he also had an intent to everything he did. He had a seriousness that you see with a lot of future big leaguers, so he did stand out to me in that way.”

On March 6, during a B-game vs. Cleveland on one of the backfields in Goodyear, Ariz., Bell was in the dugout when Kolozsvary slugged a home run against the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, Shane Bieber.

“He crushed it,” Bell recalled. “I got to shake his hand and see his face when he came in. Not that he was surprised, but you could tell it was significant. It just was. I don't want to make too big of a deal about that, but it's a part of -- maybe just a small part -- his path and his progress over the past couple of years.”