MILWAUKEE — Paul Goldschmidt has ample experience influencing how and how often a team wins — he’s got last year’s National League MVP trophy for proof — but this past month he’s taken on an expanding role beyond the batter’s box, one the Cardinals believe can help influence how and how quickly they get back to winning.
“As a player, I know how I can affect a game — I can hit two home runs and make a great play and we’ve got a good chance of winning,” Goldschmidt said. “You can’t always do that. I’m fully focused on my performance — which could be better and I’m working to correct that — but there’s this other part of the game that you can have an affect on, too, and I’m being aware of that. There are other ways to help us win.
“Teaching, sharing whatever I’ve learned, whatever people have taught me,” he continued. “Realizing now even maybe if this game is out of hand — or this game is in hand — there’s a bigger picture to look at for me than we’ve just got to win this game today.”
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He can help advance who helps him win tomorrow.
It’s why there have been times in recent games when Goldschmidt strikes out and instead of going to the hitting coach for advice, he’ll walk over to Jordan Walker and give it. It’s a subtle shift with a clear purpose.
As the Cardinals teeter toward their worst record in several generations and their first-ever last-place finish in the National League Central, manager Oliver Marmol has talked often about what the young, inexperienced players can get from the closing weeks of the season. He suggests it can help expedite their development and hasten the Cardinals’ turnaround back to a contender. During a recent discussion on how his coaches were doing that, he casually listed Goldschmidt in the group.
When the trade deadline and standings made the outcome of the Cardinals’ season inevitable, Marmol and hitting coach Turner Ward approached Goldschmidt about how important a peer could be in the development of the prospects and how he could balance (or even merge) his prep and focus on his own play with intentional time with younger teammates. They discussed how it could help improve the team for next season.
“Try to speed it up,” Goldschmidt said.
“This is one of the things that I feel you can miss on in a season like this,” Marmol told the Post-Dispatch in his office Wednesday. “You understand where you’re at as a club. It’s frustrating. You go through a period of just being (furious) about it. But then you can easily finish the last two months and miss really important opportunities that expedite the development of those players who are going to help you in 2024. And then what happens? If you miss those opportunities now you’re doing that in April and May. It’s got to take place. It’s part of the process. When are you going to do it?
“Taking on that responsibility,” Marmol said of Goldschmidt. “And also wanting to make sure this group stays together and understands what winning looks like even in the midst of losing.”
During games is when it’s most apparent as Goldschmidt folds the conversations into his focus on playing. Goldschmidt will often give Walker a rundown on how the opposing pitcher went about pitching him, what he looked for, what to look for from the pitcher, and even at times when he got it wrong. At Busch Stadium, this past home stand, the Cardinals botched a rundown that cost them a run. Goldschmidt thought back on the play how he presumed there was going to be a throw home — and did not follow his throw to cover second base. Had he done so, the Cardinals would have had at least an out. He talked to the younger players about that.
Sitting in the visitors’ dugout at American Family Field, Goldschmidt said his preference is to be “encouraging.” When a player throws to the wrong base or makes a mistake, he said, they know it. He has made it a priority to point out when they did the right thing — and how it can help them win. Goldschmidt said that “understanding what you do can and where it fits can give those better results later.”
The conversations also allow Goldschmidt to get to know many of the players better — their personalities, their interests, and other traits where trust grows. His teammates have been in the cage with him all summer and watched the work he does and what might drive him to be there early the next day after a loss.
He’s offering up the why and what he’s doing, too.
“I don’t know if he realizes it, but he’s been doing this all season,” said rookie outfielder Walker. “He’s been coaching, teaching — he’s never not willing to talk to any of us about anything. If we need help breaking down a pitcher, he’s there. What I need to do to prepare my body, where I need to be — Goldy is always the guy to go to.”
Goldschmidt, who turned 36 this month, led the league with a .578 slugging percentage and a .981 OPS a year ago. He received 22 out of the possible 30 first-place votes for the NL MVP. His season has gone a lot like his team’s — not as imagined. He had a game off Wednesday, so he’ll take a .444 slugging percentage, .806 OPS, and 79 RBIs into the final four games of the regular season. If he’s a candidate for any postseason honors for game performance it will be a fifth Gold Glove Award.
He has one year remaining on his contract with the Cardinals, though the team intends to approach him at some point this offseason about their vision for an extension. Both sides expect to have that conversation during spring training, at the latest.
By then, they plan to have remade their team into a contender.
That process has to have already started, Marmol contends, with what Goldschmidt and others are doing.
“I don’t have all of the answers,” Goldschmidt said. “But I do have a lot of experience. We’re going to need these guys for this organization. We’re going to need them to be good and be good next year if we’re going to be where the Brewers and other teams are this year.”
Willson Contreras’ wrist, etc.
The Cardinals are encouraged that Willson Contreras will not need surgery to address the pain in his left wrist after the catcher met with a specialist in Arizona. Contreras and the team sought a second opinion on the injured wrist after Contreras went on the injured list at the beginning of the road trip and ended his season. Contreras, who felt the pain on a swing, will receive treatment and see how the wrist also responds to rest. … As part of a pregame ceremony to commemorate Adam Wainwright’s career ahead of his retirement this weekend, Brewers manager Craig Counsell and outfielder Christian Yelich presented him with a $5,000 donation from the club to Big League Impact, Wainwright’s charity.