Joey Votto used to be one of the game's elite hitters. While there has always been questions about his over-the-top patience - some think that he walks too much - there used to be no doubt that Votto was one of the best pure hitters in Major League Baseball.

He put together an incredible run from 2010-2013, when he hit at least .300 in each season while averaging 26 home runs, 86 RBI and 108 walks. Votto made the All-Star Game in each season and won the Most Valuable Player award in 2010, when he mashed 37 home runs and drove in 113.

However, his career had taken a downward slope since that epic four-year stretch.

He missed most of the 2014 season with an injury and, when he did play, he was nowhere near 100 percent. "I was the worst player on the field," Votto told Richard Justice of MLB.com about his time trying to play through his lower body injuries.

There was a considerate amount of negativity toward Votto when he was battling injuries. A few clueless writers questioned whether Votto was even hurt. For years, people around the game have second-guessed his hitting approach.

That's one of the main reasons why this writer has admired Votto for the past few years. People always say that he needs to change his mindset at the plate - suggesting that he should expand the zone in RBI situations - despite the fact that he is continually among the league leaders in on-base percentage.

Compile a leaderboard of the MLB leaders in OPS (on-base plus slugging), from 2008-2013, Votto's first six big league seasons, and it looks like this:

1. Miguel Cabrera: .995

2. Albert Pujols: .969

3. Joey Votto: .962

Wow, that's some incredibly select company. Which, in this writers opinion, makes it even more mind-boggling that someone could try to correct the way Votto hits. An ardent follower of the Ted Williams' style of hitting - he has memorized most of Williams' famous book, The Science of Hitting - Votto believes in the ideology of not swinging at pitches he doesn't like, regardless of the situation.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

And it has worked tremendously well. He has swung at pitches outside of the strike zone only 19 percent of the time this year, which leads the majors.

In general, he just doesn't swing much. He has the lowest swing percentage of anyone in The Show, 37.4 percent, and it is because of his advanced approach. With less than two strikes, Votto is looking for one pitch in one spot. If he doesn't get it, he has no problem letting it go by. The reason he can do that is because he is such an awesome hitter with two strikes. He has an uncanny ability to let the ball get as deep as possible - which allows him to more accurately judge whether or not it's a strike - and still hit it hard somewhere.

Here's what Joe Posnanski of NBC Sports recently wrote in a very positive article about Votto:

"The style probably costs him some cheap RBIs (he has just one sacrifice fly this year, for instance) and, in general, diminishes his number of hits and extra-base hits. But it also means he makes absolutely as few outs as possible. And, as has been written before, outs are the currency of baseball. If you don't make outs, you can live forever."

And, not surprisingly, Votto has gotten on base the most times of anyone in the league, according to Baseball-Reference. Minimizing the number of outs you make is something that should be applauded, certainly not criticized.

But for the second half of this season, he has surpassed all of his past greatness. Since the All-Star break, Votto is hitting a whopping .399 with 12 dingers and a .576 on-base percentage.

Joey Votto’s second-half numbers? Ridiculous: http://t.co/QL4Wxbpqer pic.twitter.com/UDaRN3k4Sj

— MLB (@MLB) September 3, 2015

No, that is not a typo, you read it correctly. Votto has gotten on base almost six out of every ten plate appearances, which is preposterous even by his extremely high standards.

Using weighted runs created plus (wRC+), which measures how many runs a player creates for his team and also a stat that Votto loves - Votto has been the third best hitter in Major League Baseball this year. He trails only Bryce Harper and Miguel Cabrera in that regard, but is ahead of stars like Mike Trout, Paul Goldschmidt and Josh Donaldson.

All in all, it has been a stellar year for the 31-year-old first baseman from Ontario. He has gotten his power back in a big way - he ranks in the top ten in all of baseball in slugging percentage - while still maintaining his otherworldly on-base skills.

All he does is hit and get on base. His determination to create runs is awesome, and he very well might be back at the best pure hitter in baseball.

He has made a phenomenal return to greatness, but in this writers opinion, he never really left. He just got injured. Votto is one of the premiere players in baseball, and should be treated as such.

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About the author
Heath Clary
I am a sports columnist and blogger. I mostly write about the MLB and college football, but I do a little of everything