Spring training statistics are automatically served with a few grains of salt. Players are facing much different competition levels against players at different stages of season-readiness. It's almost never a good idea to draw conclusions from just a few weeks' worth of statistics, but we can dig through what has happened so far this spring and help determine which performances to believe in and which numbers aren't telling the full story.
Joey Votto will be fine: So far this spring, Joey Votto has only five hits for a .156 batting average and not one of those hits has gone for extra bases. Hopefully you weren't worried about one of the best hitters of his generation, even as he gets up there in age. At 34 years old, Votto will be just fine. In three of the past six springs, Votto has had a slugging average below .350 and an ISO below .100, and the worst season he put up after those slow springs was last year when he hit .320/.454/.578 and was 65 percent better than league average as a hitter -- which happened to lead the National League.
