LOS ANGELES — A sensation he had around the Cardinals clubhouse a year ago continued this week when Paul Goldschmidt returned to the All-Star Game for the first time in four years. More than his jersey had changed, but it was hard to explain what.
It had to be the questions.
He wasn’t the one asking them.
“I don’t think of myself as a veteran, but when you look around, I’m one of the older guys,” Goldschmidt said. “I forget that. Early on in my career, I think I was asking a lot more questions because I was the young guy at the All-Star Game. It was like Joey Votto, other guys, I was watching those guys hit. That’s still happening, but now they’re asking me those questions.”
No wonder. The Cardinals’ first baseman's numbers suggest he has the answers.
The league leader in average and slugging, Goldschmidt punctuated one of the finest first halves of his career with a solo home run in the first inning of the All-Star Game on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. A seven-time All-Star, Goldschmidt’s one swing of the night connected on a 2-0 fastball for his first career All-Star Game homer. He joins Yadier Molina as the only Cardinals to hit a home run in the All-Star Game in the past 47 years.
Goldschmidt starts the second half as the frontrunner for NL MVP, vying to become the Cardinals’ first since Albert Pujols in 2009.
That is not where the connections will end with those two Cardinals. The 2022 season has become a celebration of the two retiring icons, but beneath the logos, T-shirts, and Pujols’ legacy invite to the All-Star Game, something more subtle is happening. There is a merging of eras, a “transition” as a player put it, and the franchise’s next bannerman for position players is clear, not just coincidentally. Goldschmidt’s first All-Star Game as a Cardinal was Pujols’ last. Acquired via trade and signed to an extension, Goldschmidt’s run for a batting title and MVP will overlap with the team’s induction of Matt Holliday to the Hall of Fame, 13 years after he was acquired and signed to an extension.
For an organization that cherishes its continuity and mentorship, its torch-passing and tailwind of history, this year has a few endings — and one obvious continuation.
The Goldy Age.
“If everyone is going to look around and go, ‘Oh, OK,’ who talks now?” All-Star pitcher Miles Mikolas said. “I would say just about everybody is going to turn to him. If you didn’t look to him for advice or leadership, you’d be kind of foolish. He’s definitely one of those guys, and he may be The Guy. I think when pressed into action, he would answer the call very much. Already has.”
Voted into the NL’s starting lineup by fans, Goldschmidt had an eventful first inning in the NL’s 3-2 loss to the American League. He applied the tag to complete Clayton Kershaw’s pickoff of Shohei Ohtani. Goldschmidt said he knew to break for the bag because Kershaw had tried to pick him off several times. Midway through the game, Goldschmidt sat in the NL dugout with Kershaw. Atlanta’s young lefty Max Fried was between the two. Reluctant to talk too much with pitchers about hitting, Goldschmidt still bounced baseball talk off both peers.
An All-Star Game was where he got to quiz hitters he admired, and it was where he and teammate Nolan Arenado first became friends.
In 2015, J.D. Martinez was selected for his first All-Star Game and there across the diamond was the player who brought something out of him he did not expect. When Martinez joined Goldschmidt in Arizona, the first baseman invited him into conversations, encouraged him to speak up in meetings, and, Martinez said Tuesday, helped him find a voice.
“He taught me what it means to lead,” said Martinez, Boston’s designated hitter. “If I had to build a team and start with one player in their prime, it would be Goldy. I’d start with Goldy. Because he’ll be like the perfect leader. He does everything right. When you have a leader who does everything the right way, it makes everyone around him accountable.”
Said Mets first baseman Pete Alonso: “For me, he sets the bar. I’m watching him on how to be super-consistent. He’s an All-Star. He’s a superstar.”
Goldschmidt reached the All-Star break with the highest batting average (.330), the highest on-base percentage (.414), the highest slugging (.590), and best OPS (1.004) in the NL. He adorned that rare hat trick with 20 homers, 70 RBIs, and a league-best 64 runs. Earlier this season, he joined Stan Musial as the only Cardinals to hit better than .400 in a month and also have at least 10 home runs. Some of the questions he fielded this week were inevitable: Other players wanted to know about his bat and the counterbalance puck he started using.
Goldschmidt obliged because older players did with him.
Questions only come when there’s production.
“You have to perform,” Goldschmidt said. “I keep all of my focus on today. Thinking about years off in the future is not going to help me. I want to do my job today. I want to help the guys in the clubhouse today and in this year.”
He paused, and then smiled.
“I’m playing with house money,” he said. “I play Major League Baseball for a living. You can’t go wrong. You’re balancing that, of course, with wanting to go out there and win a World Series. That’s what you want. That is a very serious thing.”
Last year, his third in St. Louis after the trade from Arizona, Goldschmidt felt a shift in his place in the clubhouse. That was before Pujols re-signed, but it became obvious this spring, and with each passing series, as Molina or Pujols are feted. Veteran starter Adam Wainwright remains the seasoned vet leading the rotation, and he has not said whether he’ll return for 2023.
But on the position player side …
“Gosh, when Albert and those guys leave, I’m going to be one of the oldest guys, if not the oldest guy,” Goldschmidt said at his All-Star locker. “But I still feel like I’m young, like I’m learning. Last year was the first year really where it was like, ‘OK, I’m a veteran player. This is who I am now.’ As I near the end of my career, you want to make sure you’re sharing the wisdom that I’ve picked up just as it as shared with me.”
Goldschmidt, 34, is halfway throughout his five-year, $130-million extension with the Cardinals. He adjusted his bat this season in part because he wanted to respond to his age, create a more durable, long-lasting swing. He’s set to be a free agent after the 2024 season. That means there could be conversations about a new deal within the next 12-14 months, a deal that would take him through the end of his career — and toward the red jacket awaiting other foundational position players like Holliday now and Molina and Pujols later.
“He just hit his 300th (homer),” Mikolas said. “I’m sure 500 is a nice, round number he’d like to get to. Four more seasons at 50 homers a year sounds good to me — in Cardinal red.”
On Sunday, after the Cardinals’ rainout, Goldschmidt brought reliever Ryan Helsley along for the charter flight to Los Angeles. Headed to his first All-Star Game, Helsley had some questions for the veteran. Goldschmidt told he wouldn’t have much time, the schedule was busy, but to do all he can to take it all in.
Goldschmidt said he never counts on coming back, so he tries to make the most of it. There is always something to learn.
Or, as eras shift swiftly beneath the cleats, teach.
“I’ll try to do my best,” Goldschmidt said.
