It has been difficult to watch the face of the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise struggle this much throughout the first two months of the year. Yet, after delving into his statistics, there are less than a handful of issues causing troubles.
Paul Goldschmidt is the face of a franchise. He already ranks near the top of the organization’s all-time leaderboards after close to eight seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks. They arguably wouldn’t have had recent success without him.
But the first baseman has endured his worst season as an MLB player thus far. After another elite All-Star campaign last year, he owns a nearly unfathomable .201 average with 16 RBIs.
Goldschmidt’s offensive decline is somewhat of a mystery, yet some variables are explanatory. Still, as a five-time All-Star, it’s unsure whether this is the beginning of a career trend, or if he will rebound as the season progresses.
When glazing over his stats, it’s clear that there are some oddities unseen on his stat sheet prior to this year. He’s currently tied for second in the league in strikeouts at 68. At this pace, he will whiff about 200 times, much more than his career-high of 150.
The Diamondbacks hitter’s discipline remains impactful. He’s not swinging at significantly more pitches outside the strike zone, and he’s garnered 29 walks thus far.
Instead, Goldschmidt’s timing is what’s causing issues. And even when he can identify the pitch, his bat speed fails him.
Moreover, Goldschmidt’s contact rate is dreadful when compared to previous years. Before 2018, his highest percentage of soft-contact hits was in 2016 at 14.2 percent, per FanGraphs. Yet this year, that number sits at 21.6 percent.
"It doesn't turn just because you want it to. ... We're going to have to play better." -- Paul Goldschmidt on the #Dbacks' ongoing offensive struggles. pic.twitter.com/O0pTuqulhN
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) May 23, 2018
His amount of hard contact hasn’t declined much, but more of his balls are being hit at a medium rate of speed – and in the air. Surprisingly, his line-drive rate hasn’t diminished — it’s higher this year than it was last season.
Nevertheless, given his timing issues, Goldschmidt is unable to launch the ball as usual. He has just 18 extra-base hits in 2018. His average for that category since 2012 is about 67.
Goldschmidt’s abysmal May has been hard to watch. But the 30-year-old still has plenty of time to turn his season around.
Fielding Woes? Nope.
Though the franchise first baseman has endured an extremely slow start to the season, he continues to play efficient defense.
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Oddly enough, Goldschmidt struggles to maintain his defensive ability during even-year campaigns. He had just one defensive run saved in both 2012 and 2014, and he compiled four in 2016.
Thus far, he has three defensive runs saved. That puts him on track to match his total of 10 from last season. Furthermore, his ability to cover his fielding zone remains respectable.
Goldschmidt’s defensive WAR sits at an even zero. Nevertheless, just three first basemen – Joey Votto, Brandon Belt, and Anthony Rizzo – own positive DWARs so far.
The Diamondbacks rank second in the league in defense. And while Goldschmidt does have two errors under his belt already, he hasn’t been a liability. The same can’t be said about Daniel Descalso.
Overall, Arizona remains a competitor in the National League West. Also, it’s promising considering that the Diamondbacks still sit near the top of the division during Goldschmidt’s woes.
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Imagine how well they can fare if he can return to his dominant form.