Peak newsletter | A version of this story first appeared in The Athletic’s weekly newsletter covering the mental side of sports. Sign up here to receive the Peak newsletter directly in your inbox.Joey Votto thought about baseball a little differently than most people.Case in point: When he realized he was bad at diving for ground balls at first base, he taught himself how to dive by lunging into a pool over and over again.Votto was one of the best hitters of his era (2007-2023), a National League MVP and six-time All Star with the Cincinnati Reds who piled up 2,135 hits and is likely headed to the Hall of Fame. More than 22,000 people have played Major League Baseball: Votto has more hits than all but 220 of them and more walks than all but 33 of them.That’s why I find this story one of his coaches told me interesting and instructive.One night, the Reds played at home, and Votto had three hits. They were all the same type of hits: topspin one-hoppers through the infield.The next day, Votto talked to the team’s then-hitting coach, Don Long.“That wasn’t a good night,” Votto said.Long was surprised. Baseball is hard enough. Most players would just be happy with a three-hit night. So Long asked Votto what he meant.“If that’s the way I’m hitting,” Votto said, “it’s not going to give me what I want at the end of the year.”