Voting for the All Star game has ended, and the last time Major League Baseball released the vote totals, Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was far-and-away the overall vote leader for the National League. He’s set to join a list of some impressive Reds.

He will join Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Ken Griffey Jr. as Reds who have won the overall NL vote.

“That would an enormous deal for me,” Votto said.

Votto leads St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Lance Berkman by 3 million votes. When Votto wins, this will be his third All-Star game, but his first as a starter.

“It means a lot,” he said. “We’re a small-market team. For the fans to think I worthy of garnering so many votes is a great honor. If I win the NL vote, it will be one of the cooler things that has happened for me.”

It sounds like the rest of the baseball world is starting to wake up and realize the awesomeness that is a grown man named Joey. The Reds better hurry and lock up this guy to a long-term contract soon.

MLB columnist Anthony Castrovince has an article today on Scott Rolen. It reads almost like a eulogy to a career that isn’t actually dead yet, but it highlights a lot of what makes Rolen so awesome:

• He’s down-to-earth – “I have a job, you know,” he said. “That’s the short answer, I guess. Having four surgeries and rehab, I don’t like any of that. But I wasn’t given a choice, necessarily. That’s kind of where I am and what I’m doing. We’re free to feel sorry for ourselves, and I do. But I have a job. I play baseball for the Cincinnati Reds, and I take it very seriously. I have a responsibility, an accountability to get myself in physical and mental shape and go to work.”
• He’s in touch with reality – “I’m 100 percent of whatever I’ve got,” Rolen said with a laugh. “That’s about it. I don’t know what that equates to [relative to] the rest of the league.”
• He knows there’s more to life than baseball – “I feel like I’m more valuable,” he said, “than just where my locker space is.”

In my opinion, Scott Rolen has been a rare example of a “veteran presence” actually making a difference on a ball team. Especially when he first came around, the Reds were fielding a lot of young guys with more talent on the field than sense about how to comport themselves. I suspect he played a big part in shaping the grown-up team you see today. I think the Reds can’t really give Joey Votto the captain’s C while Rolen is still on the roster.

I don’t want to add to the eulogy of Rolen’s career, but I do think his best contributions have already been made. And they’ve been really important ones. I hope that the rest of his last contract year with the team is kind to the guy, and lets him go out on top like the class act that he is.

I saw this image on Twitter today (HT Joel Luckhaupt).

What you’re looking at is Joey Votto’s heat map during his 14-game hitting streak. The player on the left represents Votto, and the white outlined square represents the strike zone.

See all that red? That’s where Votto’s been getting most of his hits. He’s batting more than .500 on pitches he hits in that area. That’s an amazing coverage.

So the moral of this image is: if you want to prevent Joey Votto from getting a hit, walk him, or hope that you can find that upper-strike zone wiggle room for your fastball.

Dang, I enjoy having him on the Reds.

Apparently, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman can’t drive 55.

Police said Chapman, 24, was pulled over for speeding in a black 2010 Mercedes S63 on Interstate 71 North near Interstate 270 at about 12:42 a.m.

Chapman was arrested after the officer discovered he had a suspended Kentucky driver’s license, according to a police report.

Chapman was released on bond and has a court date scheduled for June 6. He has already discussed his situation with the Reds, including general manager Walt Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker.

It may feel like it’s been a while since the Reds have had a player arrested, but the most recent one was just last year on April 17, 200 when Mike Leake was arrested for shoplifting. Along with Leake, Chapman joins the illustrious ranks of former arrested Reds Daniel Ray Herrera, Brian “Love” Shackleford, and Ryan “Farney” Freel who gave us two wonderful mug shots.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Aroldis Chapman has been the definition of dominant so far this year. Over 21 innings, he has allowed 7 hits, walked 7, and struck out 38. Oh, yeah, and he’s not allowed a run.

A guy displaying excellent command and unhittability who becomes a mere mortal when used on back-to-back days would seem perfect to slip into the starting rotation. Mike Leake and his 6.21 ERA are a no-brainer target. But that would mean that the Reds are starting to figure out what to do with Chapman. And everybody knows that they are bound and determined to screw this up and waste his time as a Red.

“He’s been so good in the eighth,” Baker said. “Like I said, you’ve got to graduate to that position. Who knows maybe graduation time is here? We’re got to discuss it, talk about it. Matter of fact, we already talked to him about it.”

I can only shake my head and laugh at the Reds. The team as a whole has 4 blown saves: 1 from Chapman himself, 1 from a guy who was probably injured in Bill Bray, 1 from the closer Sean Marshall, and one from Logan Ondrusek. Moving Chapman into the closer’s role doesn’t help the team in any significant way. The bullpen is already very good, and the step up from Marshall to Chapman pales in comparison to the step up from Leake to Chapman.

It’s just stupefying how badly General Manager Walt Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker have handled Chapman. And clearly, the mishandling is going to continue.