Sad news: Jays key player ruled out for the season due to injury.
Joey Votto, an infielder with the Toronto Blue Jays, had further aggravation to his right ankle injury during pregame warm-ups on Friday, April 13, 2018, which prevented him from starting against the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons.
Votto, who has already experienced ankle and lower back issues this season, will be evaluated further on Saturday, the Blue Jays reported.
The 40-year-old Toronto native hurt this identical ankle during spring training after he signed a minor league contract on March 9 with his home team.
On March 17, in his lone at-bat during his brief stay in spring training, Votto smashed a home run off Philadelphia Phillies slugger Zack Wheeler. But in that same game, he took another blow when he stepped on a bat in the dugout, which forced him to miss three months of action.
Votto, who spent a long time as the NL MVP for the Cincinnati Reds, recently made a comeback to the field, participating in 16 games with Class A Dunedin in the Florida minor levels.
One of his last steps toward returning to Major League Baseball was his expected start with Buffalo versus the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRaiders.
Votto has amassed remarkable stats over the course of his 17-season career, hitting.294 with 356 home runs and 1,444 RBIs in 2,056 games. Due to a shoulder injury, he was only able to play in 65 games last season, which was his last MLB stint with the Reds.
