The Cincinnati Reds announced that they've placed first baseman Joey Votto on the 10-day disabled list as he nurses a contusion on his lower right leg.

The 34-year-old Votto is batting .284 with nine home runs and 55 RBI this season, and he's been one of the few positives on a disappointing Reds team. Despite the solid stats, Votto is having a very off season, for his own standards.

Entering play on Saturday, the Reds own a porous 53-69 record, 18.5 games behind the NL Central-leading Chicago Cubs. Cincinnati got off to an atrocious 3-18 start to the season, then fell to 8-27 on May 7. They've since turned it around very slightly, but it's going to be hard for them to steal some wins while Votto is on the disabled list.

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The Reds, however, have relied a bit less on Votto to carry the offense thus far. Eugenio Suarez leads the team with 26 home runs and 88 RBI, while Scooter Gennett's .309 batting average is tops on the Reds. Cincinnati has also received fine production from the likes of Jesse Winker (.299 average, .836 OPS), and Scott Schebler (.278 batting average, .821 OPS).

The 2010 NL MVP has stayed remarkably healthy throughout his career, playing 478 of a possible 486 games from 2015-17, while playing in at least 150 games four times before that.

Votto's trip to the disabled list should be a short one, and it gives other Reds players an opportunity to show what they can contribute in the meantime. Cincinnati owns one of the top farm systems in all of baseball, so they could decide to give a couple of players a chance while Votto recovers from his injury.

2018 is virtually another lost season for the Reds, and they're surely a few years away from returning to playoff contention. With Votto out, it doesn't hurt to give some of their youth some playing time. We'll see how the Reds perform without their franchise player during his brief trip to the DL.

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