Apparently inspired by the early start to the season, the Dusty Baker and the Reds have gone ahead and announced the Opening Day starter before there have even been any spring training games, per se. From John Fay:

“After much deliberation and talking to the guys, after talking to Bryan (Price), we’re going to open with Volquez,” Baker said.

Bronson Arroyo will start the second game, followed by Johnny Cueto in Game 3.

“You want to go hard, soft,” Baker said. “You want to break up Volqie and Cueto. You don’t want them to try to out radar-gun each other. Whoever the fifth starter is going to be — other than Homer (Bailey) — is going to be softer. If Bronson is No. 1, you’ve got two softer guys back-to-back.”

Here at RHM we’ve had our share of fun at Arroyo’s expense, but in all seriousness, he’s an innings-eater, not the number 1, which pretty much did leave it down to Volquez or Cueto (or the mystery number 1 that I kept hoping Jocketty would surprise us with), so I guess there wasn’t much point in waiting. Plus, there’s the bonus of:

• Letting Volquez get used to the idea
• Letting all the pitchers just get ready and not worry about it (except the ones competing for 4 and 5, of course)
• Letting Opening Day activity planners put in their order for a parade float featuring a bust of Volquez made entirely of carnations

And getting the fans all the more excited about the end of this dreary snow and the beginning of baseball season. Good luck, Volquie!

Joey Votto is not your average baseball player. Granted, that may be obvious from the numbers he’s put up for the last two years playing for the Cincinnati Reds, but I don’t mean that.

Whenever I read an interview with him, I come away marveling at the amount of thought Votto seems to put into his answers. Sports athletes are rarely known for their intellect because that’s not what they’re paid for. For brains, you watch Jeopardy! But the sports arena is for feats of athletic prowess.

Still, Votto displays his thoughtfulness whenever he appears in the media more so than your average player.

For example, yesterday Cincinnati Enquirer Reds beat reporter John Fay talked to Votto, and Votto first talked about how he didn’t think pitchers pitched around him.

Votto doesn’t expect a change this year: “I don’t imagine it. I’ll assume guys will go after me, and I’m going to be ready for it. The ultimate guy that got pitched around was Barry Bonds. He said he assumed every pitch was going to be a strike, every pitch was going to be coming after him. That’s the approach you have to take. That’s probably the most difficult thing about our job. From Day 1 to hopefully the last out of the World Series, you have to be ready.”

That sounds like an excellent approach. One pitch at a time, and never expect them to give you anything. With Votto’s intensity, I’d love to see him be able to show just what he learned from last year’s postseason appearance.

Votto expects to improve this year, which is kind of a scary proposition.

“I’d like to be more efficient. I’d still like to be a better teammate. I’d like to be a better defensive player. As far as a hitter, I’d like to be more efficient. I feel like I wasted a lot of at-bats last year.”

He got on base 42% of the time, and he felt he wasted “a lot” of at-bats. Just let that sink in for a minute.

Since having such an excellent 2010 season, getting voted onto the All Star team (Vote Votto!), and winning the National League Most Valuable Player award, Votto’s prestige has grown. He’s on the national radar now. Given his issues following his father’s death, there’s understandable concern about how he might handle that pressure. Votto mentioned how he felt about that attention.

“It’s paced itself really well. It’s not like it was dumped on me. A guy like Aroldis Chapman or Jay Bruce or even Homer Bailey at the beginning, it’s dumped on them. I’ve earned it. It’s taken it’s time. I’ll adjust to it fine. I don’t see a huge leap. Halfway through the season, people were chanting MVP. That’s a huge compliment. I feel like I had enough time to de-sensitize myself to that.”

That actually assuages some of my concerns. Votto’s a big, strong baseball player. And I think he might just be big enough and strong enough to handle all the additional pressure that winning and succeeding brings. And doggone it, people like him.