Paul Goldschmidt believes he can be just what the New York Yankees have needed.
“I still think I can play at a really, really high level,” the veteran said in a video conference call Thursday, his first time speaking to reporters since agreeing to a one-year, $12.5-million deal with the Yankees in December.
The Yankees were among the worst offensively in the game at first base last season. Still, the team endured, reaching the World Series for the first time since 2009 before falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Goldschmidt, 37, should boost production at the position significantly — even if he’s coming off the worst season of his career.
Goldschmidt — the 2022 National League MVP and a seven-time All-Star — posted a 98 OPS+ last season for the St. Louis Cardinals. That meant that he was 2 percent worse than the league average hitter. He has a career 139 OPS+.
Yet there were encouraging signs from the Texas native. Through his first 80 games, he hit just .225 with 11 home runs, 33 RBIs and a .655 OPS. But he turned it around. In his final 74 games, he hit .269 with 11 homers, 32 RBIs and a .784 OPS.
A four-time Gold Glove winner, he’s also still considered a strong defender.
“I didn’t play well most of the year last year and there’s no excuses for that,” he said. “That was on me. But hopefully looking back, there’s a lot of things I learned. I know there is. There’s a lot of things I learned in that first half, a lot of things I did wrong that got exposed. (I) wasn’t hitting pitches that for most of my career I’ve been able to connect on. Things that the opponents were doing, if they were pitching me different and stuff like that. It was a year I didn’t perform my best at all.”
Goldschmidt said some of his improvements were in his approach and related to being in a better position to hit.
“If you’re off with that,” he said, “you’re kind of playing uphill the whole time. You’re almost playing catch-up, and you’ve got to be perfect with your swing. We just can’t do that enough. The pitchers are too good.”
Goldschmidt’s decline stretches back further than last year. In 2022, he struck out in 21.7 percent of his at-bats. That number climbed to 23.4 percent in 2023 and to 26.5 percent in 2024. His rising chase rates could also be a cause for alarm. In 2022, it was at 23.6 percent. It moved to 25.5 percent in 2023 and to 28.9 percent in 2024.
But whatever Goldschmidt provides will likely be better than what the Yankees received last season from mostly Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and a few others. The Yankees’ first basemen combined for just a .284 on-base percentage, 16 home runs and minus-1.0 fWAR.
Familiarity drew Goldschmidt to the Yankees. He is friendly with Giancarlo Stanton from the time they spent playing together on Team USA during the 2017 World Baseball Classic. Also, as The Athletic reported, he’s spent time hitting with Aaron Judge, whom he called “one of the best hitters in the world.” Goldschmidt added that manager Aaron Boone used to live in his Scottsdale, Ariz., neighborhood before becoming the Yankees’ skipper.
Goldschmidt has played 14 MLB seasons and said he’s not sure how long he’ll continue playing after this season. He’s made $175.5 million in MLB salary, according to Baseball-Reference, not including what he’s due in 2025.
“I want to play at a high level. … The feeling was like, ‘Man, I’m better than this,’” he said. “That was my feeling last year, but you’ve got to go out and prove it. If you don’t perform, you’re not going to be playing, and I think that’s the truth in this game and in life and that’s something we’ve all dealt with really our whole lives.”
(Top photo of Paul Goldschmidt: Brandon Sloter / Image Of Sport / Getty Images)
