Joey Votto talks to Dan Patrick about Houston Astros, booing, cheating in baseball

Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto chatted with Mason High School graduate Dan Patrick on the "Dan Patrick Show" that covered a wide variety of subjects - one of which was the Houston Astros, and what Votto says constitutes cheating in Major League Baseball:

DP: Do we move on from the Astros (and) booing?

JV: Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, there's no question about it. The idea that they were the only ones doing something wrong just baffles me.

DP: But if (the Astros' Jose) Altuve gets to first base ... 

JV: Yes. Very fond of him - I like him a lot.

DP: What kind of conversation do you have?

JV: I've had lots of conversations with him. We talk about hitting almost entirely. He's one of the best hitters ...

DP: But no garbage can mentions? Like you can't even have a little subtle dig, can you?

JV: No, because he came out and said that he had no part in it. And I have to believe a person based on - I'm assuming he's telling the truth. So I'm gonna believe him and we move on from there.

DP: Hypothetically - if you knew what the pitch was - how would you do if I said, "Fastball?"

JV: Yeah, I'd still be hitting home runs - we'd be at (consecutive home run) Game 10 right now. 

DP: Oh, you'd have 10 consecutive home runs?

JV: If I knew what was coming? Yeah, I'd be at Game 10 by now.

DP: But some guys don't want to know ...

JV: I don't want to know because I don't want to cheat. 

DP: So if somebody's at second base and they could signal in, you know, where the location is ...

JV: I don't want to ... let me phrase that correctly. Like if there was a tip from the pitcher, I would want to know. But as far as like any sort of like complicated cheating strategy, no. I'm not for that. But if I had the choice to know and to not know, of course that would be an advantage. But I've been offered that before in my career and I've passed on it simply because it's like unpredictable. Sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes they guess the wrong pitch and then all of a sudden you're taking a strike down the middle and you're thinking to yourself, 'Well, I can't deal with this randomness.' 

DP: When a pitcher has a tell though, what do you do with that?

JV: You take advantage of it. 

DP: OK, but when's the last time you had - do you share it with your teammates when you go, 'Hey, when he does this with his glove, he's throwing the fastball.'

JV: I mean we all do that. That's a tell.

DP: That's OK?

JV: Of course that's OK. Yeah, I mean, you're not gonna be oblivious to something that's clear in your face. 

DP: Gimme somebody who's retired that had a tell.

JV: Somebody that's retired that had a tell? I don't think I remember. Randy Johnson had a tell. If he thought you knew what was coming, he would hit you. So that was his tell. That's probably, that's a tell. That's a tell from Randy Johnson. He'd hit you, happily.

The interview in its entirety from YouTube:

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