NEW YORK — Nobody made noise when the Yankees brought back Paul Goldschmidt in February. No big press conference. No buzz on social media. Just a quiet one-year deal and a few raised eyebrows from fans wondering where a 38-year-old first baseman would fit on a roster already loaded with options.
Five weeks in, the answer is no longer a mystery. The Yankees veteran is delivering when it counts most.
The Yankees sit at 25-11, the best record in the American League. General manager Brian Cashman has drawn praise for several smart offseason decisions. Ryan Weathers anchored the Yankees rotation. Cody Bellinger’s re-signing looks sharp. Jasson Dominguez’s return from the minors energized the Yankees lineup.
But one move doing quiet heavy lifting is the Goldschmidt reunion. It keeps looking better.
Early struggles tested fan confidence
The first month raised doubts. Star first baseman Ben Rice was putting up numbers almost impossible to believe. Rice led the AL in batting average (.343) and runs scored (30) while posting a .455 on-base percentage and a 1.214 OPS. With that bat blazing, many Yankees fans saw no runway for Goldschmidt.
His early stats backed up the concern. In his first nine games, Goldschmidt hit just .125 with three hits in 24 at-bats. The previous year he batted .324 in the same stretch. The contact was off. The timing was gone.
Some were ready to write him off. They were wrong.
A historic night in the Bronx
Tuesday night against Texas changed the conversation. The Yankees beat the Rangers 7-4. Goldschmidt went 2-for-4 with a home run, showing the kind of sharp swing that had gone missing in April.
That blast was not just a win for the Yankees. It was a piece of baseball history. The home run was the 374th of Goldschmidt’s career, moving him to 82nd on the all-time MLB home run list and tying Manny Machado and Rocky Colavito.
That company tells you what kind of player Goldschmidt has been across 15-plus years. The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted him in the eighth round in 2009. He made six straight All-Star Games with Arizona from 2013 to 2018 and batted .297 across more than 1,000 games there. He then won the 2022 NL MVP Award with the St. Louis Cardinals. Now the potential Hall of Famer is chasing the one thing missing from his resume: a World Series ring.
Numbers back up the surge
Over his last three games, Goldschmidt is slashing .273/.333/.455 with three hits, two doubles, three RBIs and a walk. His exit velocity has climbed to 91 mph with a .345 expected batting average in that stretch, per Baseball Savant.
Earlier this season his expected batting average sat at just .242 despite a solid hard-hit rate. Something was off mechanically. Now the ball is landing where it should.
Paul Goldschmidt has become the type of bench piece the Yankees rarely have in reserve. He accepts his role without creating noise, his underlying metrics still point to useful production, and his defense at first base remains reliable. For a lineup that has often lacked proven offensive depth, that matters.
Injuries open a bigger door
Rice hurt his left hand on a play during Sunday’s win over Baltimore and sat out Monday’s finale. The Yankees listed him as day-to-day after X-rays came back negative. But Rice told reporters his hand remained sore and that his full swing was not there yet. Goldschmidt stepped in at first base immediately.
Designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is also out. Yankees placed Stanton on the 10-day injured list retroactive to April 25 with a left calf strain. As of last weekend, Stanton was taking cage swings and doing pool work. More on-field progress is needed before the team gives him a return date.
Goldschmidt is not being asked to replace either slugger. He is being asked to hold the Yankees line. Every sharp at-bat, every clean defensive rep, and every professional appearance builds the case that manager Aaron Boone can trust him in a start or as a pinch option with the game on the line.
The Yankees re-signed Goldschmidt when few fans applauded the call. Now with New York winning 15 of their last 17 games, that understated offseason decision looks sharp. Yankees GM Cashman did not need headlines for this one. He needed results. The veteran is delivering them.
What do you think?
