Reds first baseman Joey Votto has been on a tear since he returned on June 8 following a month-long stint on the injured list with a fractured left thumb.

After an 0-for-2 showing -- in which he still took two walks -- his first game back, Votto is hitting .304 with three homers and 12 RBIs over his last six games. That RBI mark is the most he’s recorded over a single six-game stretch in his career, and his six-game streak with an RBI heading into Tuesday matches a career-long he’s only reached twice before.

It was expected that Votto’s return would provide a boost to Cincinnati’s lineup, and his performance has been a big help as the club has won 11 of its last 14 games.

“I thought I was going to play well, and I'm happy,” Votto said after the Reds’ 10-2 win over the Brewers on Monday. “I want to play well. I want to be a part of the team. I want to be a part of the daily lineup. I think we have a good team, and I've been here a long time and want to be a part of a good team, so that's exciting.”

What’s got Votto even more amped up than his own play, though, is what he’s seen out of his teammates.

Votto has taken on the “grizzled veteran” role for Cincinnati, who often deploys bats in the lineup 10-plus years Votto’s junior. He mentioned players such as second baseman Jonathan India and catcher Tyler Stephenson, the latter of whom leads all qualified National League rookies in on-base percentage (.376); left fielder Jesse Winker, who is second in the Majors in OPS (1.048) and is on track to receive a starting outfield spot in the All-Star Game; right fielder Nick Castellanos, who -- even though he’s in his ninth year in the big leagues -- has a very good shot to earn one of the other two starting outfield spots in the Midsummer Classic.

It’s a role Votto would’ve been thrust into anyway as the Reds’ elder statesman, but it’s also a role he’s taken head-on.

“I'm watching guys get better, and it's so fun to watch careers blossom,” Votto said. “It's so fun to watch guys do things that they didn't think they could do and to be in the same uniform as guys that are reaching their life goals. Getting to watch it firsthand and share it with them is one of my favorite parts about this sport.”

“My sense is that Joey really enjoys this group,” Reds manager David Bell said Tuesday. “As you move through different phases of your career and get towards the end, if you can continue to enjoy what you're doing and enjoy the people around you, I think it leads to playing better and it keeps you young. I think it'll benefit Joey as a player, but more than anything, I'm just happy for him that he feels that way.”

Votto is also at a point in his career where he hopes the way he plays rubs off on the players who look up to him. Despite hitting a two-run home run in the seventh inning Monday, he said the two things he was most proud of came in the ninth, when he took second base on a single to right field, before he scored on a blooper from Eugenio Suárez in the next at-bat.

It’s those types of plays in which Votto takes satisfaction -- the ones that can influence how younger players approach the game.

When a reporter asked Votto postgame if he’d taken on the role of Scott Rolen -- who spent his last four seasons with Cincinnati as Votto turned into an All-Star first baseman and a perennial MVP candidate -- Votto didn’t immediately liken himself to the eight-time Gold Glove Award winner.

If that is indeed his role however, Votto will take it with pride.

“I like when guys are aggressive and do things for the team and take the extra base and play with their heart and play with passion and play like this is the last opportunity they have in their life,” he said. “That's the way Scott played, and if I'm anything like that, that's a tremendous honor.”

Quotable

“Somewhere along the line, pitchers pitching with foreign substances ... it became kind of an accepted part of the game. I don't know exactly when that happened. For me, I think this is a step in the right direction to enforce the rules that are in the rule book.” -- Bell, on MLB cracking down on the use of foreign substances