The 2024 MLB season has gotten off to a slow start for St. Louis Cardinals star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt. The 2022 National League MVP has looked like a shell of himself, as he looks lost at the plate.
As a whole, the St. Louis Cardinals have struggled to produce at the plate, as they are last in the National League and second to last in the majors in runs scored. Paul Goldschmidt has been in the middle of that, as he is on track for the least productive season of his career.
To this point, he has recorded a .199/.284/.278 slash line. He has only six extra-base hits in 151 at-bats and has struck out 54 times. This is the highest strikeout rate of his career in a single season, while his walk percentage would also be a career-low.
How does such a successful player deal with an extended slump like this? Paul Goldschmidt recently spoke about handling it and what he is doing to ensure that it comes to an end sooner rather than later.
“I mean, I think there are a lot of different ways to describe it. That would probably be the easiest way,” Goldschmidt explained, according to The Athletic‘s Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal. “I mean, I’ve always had times when I’ve struggled. This, whether it’s longer or worse or it happens to be the first 40 games instead of the middle 40.
“I can’t predict, but hopefully if I start playing better I’ll be able to give you a better answer. If I knew exactly what was going on… I can see on video, that’s not what I want to do. But sometimes it’s a little harder to figure out what’s causing that.”
There are a few signs that point to some regression to the mean happening. Some of his advanced stats are still above average, such as his exit velocity and hard-hit percentage.
90.9 and 43.3 percent may be below what we have seen from Paul Goldschmidt in his career, but it shows he still has something left in the tank. While the bat is slow to come around, he is still playing elite defense at first base, which makes him an asset to the St. Louis Cardinals.
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