Joey Votto: “Until [Mike] Trout came into the league, I thought every year that I would be in the conversation for best player in the game.”

With a 1-for-4 performance in Sunday’s regular season finale against the Cubs, Reds first baseman Joey Votto officially ends the 2016 campaign batting .326/.434/.550 with 29 home runs, 97 RBI, and 101 runs scored in 677 plate appearances. It’s quite a good season, but Votto knows his place in baseball: behind Mike Trout.

Votto was complimentary of the Angels’ outfielder. Per Zach Buchanan of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Personally, until (Mike) Trout came into the league, I thought every year that I would be in the conversation for best player in the game and he f—–d that up for everybody. Babe Ruth and Ted Williams included. He’s ruining it for everyone.

Votto isn’t wrong. Trout entered Sunday’s action with 10.4 WAR, easily the best mark in baseball and his second 10-WAR season according to Baseball Reference. Among position players dating back to 1901, Trout is one of only 12 players with multiple 10-WAR seasons.

Trout has 9.3 WAR according to FanGraphs and 47.6 total since he debuted in 2011. Miguel Cabrera has the next-most WAR in that span of time, at 34.8.

Thankfully, there’s enough room to recognize both how great Trout is and how great Votto is. Votto, by the way, was the first to hit over .400 in the second half since Ichiro Suzuki in 2004, as MLB’s Stat of the Day Twitter account notes.