https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/cincinnati-reds-joey-votto-elly-de-la-cruz-102617ab

Conflict is brewing in the Cincinnati Reds clubhouse this season, veteran first baseman Joey Votto says. He has spent the season arguing in the clubhouse that Michael Jordan was the greatest NBA player ever. His exciting new teammates, who weren’t even alive to see Jordan in his prime, say there’s no competition: LeBron James is the greatest.

The debate sends Votto into a tizzy, one he clearly enjoys. He is on the verge of turning 40 years old, the Reds are playing like a true contender for the first time in nearly a decade, and he’s remembering what it feels like to be a rookie while surrounded by a dynamic group of them..

This year, the Reds have graduated to the majors what may be the best group of young prospects in MLB. They include third baseman Elly De La Cruz, shortstop Matt McLain, and, as of Monday, infielder Christian Encarnacion-Strand.

These players, all born between the years of 1999 and 2002, are leading a revival of the Reds that has felt like a long time coming. De La Cruz is quickly becoming a star in the game, providing one of the best highlights of the year when he recently stole second, third, and home in one inning against the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Reds rookies have unleashed a wild season in Cincinnati, with the team sitting in second place in the NL Central with a record of 52-46, entering Friday’s play.

Votto is a likely Hall-of-Famer and hopes to spend his entire career in Cincinnati. There have been some tough times in recent seasons for the personable Canadian, though. As the only truly recognizable face of the team for years, the onus was on him to play hard through losing seasons for passionate fans who felt ripped off by the product they were playing to see. Votto’s performance ebbed and flowed, with changes to his hitting profile throughout the past few years and finally, a shoulder surgery last year that threatened to end his career.

It was recovery from the surgery that sent Votto back to the minor leagues for an extended rehabilitation stint at the start of this season, which incidentally allowed him to get to know his future MLB teammates before they reconvened in the majors.
Joey Votto, chats with Jonathan India, left, Elly De La Cruz, second from left, and Matt McLain, right. Photo: Jeff Dean/Associated Press

Votto’s hope to be on the major-league roster for Opening Day of 2023 didn’t go as planned. Neither did his first rehab assignment in Triple A Louisville. Under the collective bargaining agreement, an MLB position player’s rehab stint can only last up to 20 days in a row. Votto realized he wouldn’t be ready to return to MLB by the time the 20 days were up, so he ended the first assignment early.

“He was struggling, our team was struggling, and he cut off his rehab,” said Louisville Bats manager Pat Kelly, who was the Reds bench coach in 2007, Votto’s rookie season. When he returned, however, there was a lot more talent and energy in the Louisville clubhouse.

“The second time when he came back, all of a sudden Elly was there. McLain was still there for a little bit, and I think Joey just kind of fell into fun and enthusiasm. I think Joey had fun again, and they were a big part of it.”

Votto quickly befriended McLain, a 23-year-old shortstop, during his first rehab stint, and became enthralled by De La Cruz weeks before the rest of the world would discover his flash and panache on the field. Their time spent together in Triple A helped to bypass some of the typical veteran-rookie dynamics that can strain a clubhouse.

“In spring training it’s like, he’s Joey and you’re the young guy and you don’t talk to him,” McLain said. “Then he comes to Louisville and it’s like he’s a normal guy.”

Votto says he is enjoying the generational mashup, perhaps in part because some of his young teammates know more about his career than they do about Michael Jordan’s.

McLain, a 23-year-old shortstop, has endeared himself by citing Votto’s career statistics from memory. He remembers the two seasons in which Votto appeared in all 162 games for the Reds, and followed the peak of Votto’s career closely, though he was an adolescent in California at the time.

“He’ll ground out to first base and run, and he’s in his 17th year,” McLain says. “He appreciates when we (the rookies) do that, but I don’t think he realizes that we see him doing it as well.”

Votto understands that his tenure in the game means he has a responsibility to help guide the players who come up behind him. He also recalls with intensity the way he felt belittled and disrespected by veterans when he was a young player in the major leagues. So he approached his role as mentor politely.

“He would ask me, ‘Can I tell you something about this?’” McLain recalled, laughing. “I was like, ‘Dude, you’re a Hall of Famer, give me everything.’”

The matriculation of players like McLain, De La Cruz, and first baseman Encarnacion-Strand in particular offers an unmistakable message that Votto’s time in the game is coming to an end, and soon enough his jersey will be worn along the likes of “Bench,” “Larkin,” and “Rose” as a relic of a bygone era.

Down in Louisville, he wondered where he would fit in with the new-look Reds, and whether he could get his shoulder to cooperate enough for him to make it back.

“I started trending in the direction of being able to compete at the major-league level, and then I watched these guys start to get promoted right in front of my eyes,” Votto recalled. “It almost felt like I was in the minor leagues again, watching teammates get promoted before me. It wasn’t what I went down there for—I went down to prepare, and there I was like, ‘Hey! Wait for me! Wait for me!’”
Elly De La Cruz, left, and Joey Votto look at an iPad in the dugout during a game. Photo: Jess Rapfogel/Getty Images

The Louisville coaching staff realized that Votto was ready to get back to the major-league life when his persona reminded them of a “bad wrestler” with something to prove, Kelly said.

“When I got back to Cincinnati, they knew me as like, the Louisville guy, not the Reds guy,” Votto said. “Now it’s their turn to learn how I operate.”

Votto’s production on the field has rebounded this season following the surgery on his shoulder, which he says had bothered him since 2015.. But Redstown is no longer a one-man Joe Show. De La Cruz is turning into a certified star, lighting up the game by hitting for average and showing off his speed, including in a remarkable play where he stole three bases in the span of two pitches.

“Elly is national news, and I don’t want him to resent the clubhouse space,” Votto said. “There are plenty of moments where I have had a serious dialogue with him about adjustments or future challenges he may encounter, and then he deals with it.”

The Reds are fortunate that a camaraderie between the 39-year-old veteran and the 21-year-old rookie began to grow in their Triple A clubhouse. Now, up in the bigs, Votto is finding ways to share his turf with those who will succeed him.

“I saw it a little bit in Louisville, but they’re shining here in Cincinnati,” Votto said. “So who am I to make these guys feel like they’re not at home here when I’m learning so much from their example, too?”

Write to Lindsey Adler at Lindsey.Adler@wsj.com