NEW YORK — Paul Goldschmidt had a miserable first four months last year, including a career-worst 0-for-32 slide that ended with a ninth-inning single on May 11 to avoid his first five-out game at stick.
“The feeling was like, man, I’m better than that,” the former National League MVP said after finalizing a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Yankees from New York. “But you have to go out and prove it. I mean, if you don’t play, then you know you won’t play. And I think that’s exactly the truth in this game and in life.
A seven-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, the 37-year-old first baseman left St. Louis and became part of the Yankees’ Plan B after losing Juan Soto to the rival New York Mets.
After a World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Yankees also added left-hander Max Fried, closer Devin Williams and outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger.
Goldschmidt joins Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Bellinger to give the Yankees four MVPs.
With his beard and mustache trimmed, Goldschmidt answered questions for about half an hour. He spoke of his excitement for his new team, the third of his big league career, and recalled a series at Yankee Stadium with St. Louis on Labor Day weekend last season.
“Just feeling the energy coming out of the dugout, it was really fun,” he said. “The energy is high every game there.”
He spent his first eight seasons with Arizona and his last six with the Cardinals, dropping to a career-low .245 batting average last season with 22 home runs and 65 RBIs. He revived his numbers late in the season, hitting .283 with seven home runs and 25 RBIs starting July 28.
“Some things I did wrong that were exposed that just weren’t made on throws that I was able to connect on for most of my career, things that opponents were doing, that ‘They cast me differently or things like that,’ he said.
Goldschmidt is a career .289 hitter with 362 home runs and 1,187 RBIs for Arizona (2011-18) and the Cardinals (2019-24). He hit .317 with 35 homers, 115 RBIs and a .981 OPS in 2022, when he was voted MVP.
Goldschmidt spent a day with Judge working on hitting in January 2023 in Tampa, Florida, near the Yankee captain’s home.
“That’s something I’ve always tried to do is find good hitters or great players or coaches and just try to seek them out and try to learn from them,” he said. Goldschmidt said. “We just stayed in touch. He’s one of the best hitters in the world, maybe the best hitter, and as a right-handed power hitter, a guy I’m very, very excited to play with and see him work every day.
Goldschmidt visited Driveline Baseball in Kent, Washington, ahead of the 2024 season for two days of mechanical analysis. Still, he hit 6-for-47 (.128) in spring training and hit .224 with 22 RBIs in 52 games through May.
His upper and lower body were out of alignment during his swing. He was also mentally deranged.
“There were times where I might have been patient and the pitchers were taking the lead really quickly and I was just sitting there and counting 0-2, 1-2,” he said. “It’s easy to look at someone struggling and tell them what’s wrong. It’s not always easy to tell how to fix the problem or for us to fix it or make those adjustments.
