It was in this moment, in this unlikely place, that a Canadian baseball icon named Joey Votto found himself in a back-field batter’s box, taking the first live batting practice of the rest of his baseball life.

 

DUNEDIN, Fla. — It was 11:39 on a breezy Sunday morning. And the place to be was Field 5 of what was once, in a previous life, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Cecil P. Englebert minor-league complex.

It was in this moment, in this unlikely place, that a Canadian baseball icon named Joey Votto found himself in a back-field batter’s box, taking the first live batting practice of the rest of his baseball life.

Sixty feet away, Eric Pardinho, a 23-year-old right-handed reliever from Brazil with a 7.15 ERA in High A last year, rocked, fired and watched a legend swing through a four-seam fastball. Then, as he walked off the mound, rocking a smile so wide they could practically see it in Rio de Janeiro, he uttered these immortal words:

“I just struck out Joey Gallo!”

Well, he was close! Hey, Joey Gallo … or Votto … or whatever your name is … welcome to the Blue Jays.

Baseball is a journey. Life is a journey. And we all know how easily those journeys can spin out of control. So what were the odds that this weekend, the fascinating baseball journey of Joseph Daniel Votto would lead him to a place where everybody knows his name — everybody, that is, except Eric Pardinho?

Born in Toronto … still a resident of greater Toronto … still carrying around a boyhood memory of Joe Carter’s 1993 World Series homer floating through the sky … Joey Votto officially became a Blue Jay over the weekend. What a story.

All right, to be technical, he’s actually a (Triple-A) Buffalo Bison now, signed to a minor-league contract that would pay him $2 million if he spends this season in the major leagues. But in truth, everyone wants this to work, from the Blue Jays’ front office to Votto’s mom to, we’re guessing, Nickelback and the entire Canadian parliament.

Obviously, though, no one wants this to work more than Votto himself. But it’s also fair to say that no one in this camp understands a beautiful baseball story better than Votto.

So as that word, “journey,” rolled off his lips Sunday morning, it came with an appreciation of the miles he has traveled to reach this place.

“It is a journey. That’s for sure,” Votto told The Athletic, as he walked those back fields. “And it’s also a bit of a full-circle experience for me — because the way I feel right now is no different than the version of me at 18: Uncertain, completely uncertain about my future, wanting to do my best, wanting to work, assuming nothing.