Quick Facts
In full:
Paul Edward Goldschmidt
Byname:
Goldy
Born:
September 10, 1987, Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. (age 37)
Top Questions

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Paul Goldschmidt (born September 10, 1987, Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.) is an American slugging first baseman who rose from being a relatively unknown professional baseball prospect to being named, at age 35, the 2022 Most Valuable Player of Major League Baseball’s (MLB’s) National League (NL). At 6 feet 2 inches (1.9 meters) tall and 225 pounds (102 kg), he is also a remarkably agile defender and base runner.

Early life and college

Goldschmidt is the eldest of three boys of Kim and David Goldschmidt. He was born in Wilmington, Delaware, but his father’s flooring business took the family to Texas, where they settled in the Houston suburb of The Woodlands. Goldschmidt played football and baseball during middle school; by the time he reached The Woodlands High School, he was focused on baseball. In 2006 he won a state championship as a senior at The Woodlands, and after graduation the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him in the 49th (second to last) round. He did not sign a contract with the team, however, electing to play college ball at Texas State University.

After a quiet start as a freshman, when he missed playing time while recovering from a broken bone in his hand, Goldschmidt established himself as a formidable hitter. In his final year at Texas State, as a junior, he hit .352 with 18 home runs and 88 RBIs in 57 games. The Arizona Diamondbacks drafted him in the eighth round of the 2009 draft, and he signed with the team on June 14. At the time he was 10 classes short of completing a degree, with a 3.8 grade point average. Three years later Goldschmidt enrolled in the University of Phoenix, taking online courses and earning a degree in business management in 2013.

Pro career

Arizona Diamondbacks

Goldschmidt had three excellent minor-league seasons and was named the USA Today Minor League Player of the Year in 2011. On August 1 of that year, the Diamondbacks called him up, and the 23-year-old singled in his first career at-bat. Arizona qualified for the playoffs and made it to the National League Division Series. Goldschmidt had a solo home run in the second game, and in the fifth inning of game three he hit a grand slam, the first in Diamondbacks postseason history. The team eventually lost the series to the Milwaukee Brewers, 3–2. After hitting .250 with a .474 slugging percentage and 8 homers during his rookie season, Goldschmidt improved to .286 with a .490 slugging percentage and 20 homers the next year.

An Admired Teammate

Goldschmidt is known for his preparation, meticulous attention to detail, and self-effacing personality. He has won consistent praise from coaches and fellow players throughout his career. His Cardinals teammate Nolan Arenado told The Athletic in 2022 that Goldschmidt is “the smartest player I’ve ever seen.”

Before the 2013 season the Diamondbacks signed Goldschmidt to a five-year, $32 million contract, and he responded with a breakout year, hitting .302 and leading the NL with 36 homers, 125 RBIs, a .551 slugging percentage, and a .952 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). He finished second in the NL MVP vote to Andrew McCutchen and won his first Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards, along with his first berth to the All-Star Game. After being limited by a hand injury in 2014, Goldschmidt again finished second in MVP voting in 2015, this time to Bryce Harper, after hitting .321 with 33 homers and 110 RBIs. Goldschmidt’s elite stats were not limited to hitting. In 2016 he stole 32 bases (in 37 attempts), finishing ninth in the league—a strikingly high number for a tall, slugging first baseman.

St. Louis Cardinals

After the 2018 season, Arizona traded Goldschmidt, who had one year left before free agency, to the St. Louis Cardinals. On the eve of the 2019 season, St. Louis signed him to a contract extension for five years and $130 million, and barely a week later he hit three homers in just his second game as a Cardinal, a 9–5 victory over the Brewers. After that he had a few so-so months (by his standards) before catching fire in late July, when he homered in six consecutive games. His play helped St. Louis win the NL Central Division title that season, its first since 2015.

After several productive seasons Goldschmidt had a career year in 2022 and was named NL MVP, getting 22 of 30 first-place votes. That season he led the NL with a .578 slugging percentage and a .981 OPS. He was 35 years old—an age when most players are on the decline—making him the fourth oldest first-time winner of a major league MVP award in the divisional era. Goldschmidt also flirted with winning the NL triple crown (leading in batting average, homers, and RBIs), which would have made him the first to have accomplished the feat since Joe Medwick in 1937 (in the end Goldschmidt finished third in batting average, fifth in homers, and second in RBIs). Goldschmidt’s performance helped lead the Cardinals to another division title, although they were swept in the Wild Card Series. In his last two seasons in St. Louis his offensive production declined, and the Cardinals finished out of playoff contention.

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In December 2024 Goldschmidt signed a one-year, $12.5 million contract with the New York Yankees.

Personal life

Paul and Amy Goldschmidt met as freshmen at Texas State and were married in 2010. The couple has two children.

Fred Frommer
Quick Facts
Also called:
D-backs
Awards And Honors:
World Series (2001)
Date:
1998 - present
Headquarters:
Phoenix
Areas Of Involvement:
baseball

Arizona Diamondbacks, American professional baseball franchise based in Phoenix that plays in the National League (NL). In 2001, in only their fourth season in Major League Baseball, the Diamondbacks won the World Series.

Founding and 2001 World Series title

The Diamondbacks were founded in 1998 as an expansion franchise, along with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays). In their first season the Diamondbacks unsurprisingly finished last in their division. The team added free agent pitcher Randy Johnson before the 1999 season, and he—along with another new acquisition, Luis Gonzalez, and holdover third baseman Matt Williams—led the Diamondbacks to a rapid improvement as they won 100 games and earned a postseason berth (a first-round loss to the New York Mets).

When Curt Schilling went to the team during the 2000 season and joined Johnson in the starting rotation, the Diamondbacks boasted arguably the top pair of pitchers in baseball, and the twosome were at their most dominant in 2001. That year Johnson and Schilling finished first and second in voting for the Cy Young Award (given annually to the league’s best pitcher) while leading Arizona to its second division title. The team then advanced to its first World Series, where it defeated the New York Yankees in a dramatic seven-game series behind co-Most Valuable Player performances by the two star pitchers.

Serena Williams poses with the Daphne Akhurst Trophy after winning the Women's Singles final against Venus Williams of the United States on day 13 of the 2017 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 28, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (tennis, sports)
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Mixed success

The Diamondbacks again advanced to the postseason in 2002, but that success was followed by a quick descent into the divisional cellar as Arizona posted a 51–111 record in 2004. The team traded away both Schilling (2003) and Johnson (2005; though he returned to Arizona from 2007 to 2008) and attempted to rebuild around young position players and dominant pitcher Brandon Webb. That core led the D-backs to a second trip to the NL Championship Series in 2007 (a loss to the Colorado Rockies).

Arizona Diamondbacks Results by Season: 2020–24
season record playoffs
2020 25–35 missed playoffs
2021 52–110 missed playoffs
2022 74–88 missed playoffs
2023 84–78 lost World Series
2024 89–73 missed playoffs

A significantly revamped squad, which included rookie first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, again reached the postseason in 2011, where Arizona lost in the divisional round. Arizona then reeled off five consecutive nonwinning seasons before the team, in 2017, unexpectedly added 24 wins to its previous year’s total and qualified for the playoffs (another loss in the divisional round). The team won just 82 games in 2018 and missed the postseason. Arizona continued to struggle in the ensuing years, and in 2021 it lost 110 games.

The team also posted a losing record in 2022, but it rebounded the following year. During the 2023 season, the Diamondbacks finished with a 84–78 record and earned a postseason berth. Backed by the stellar play of second baseman Ketel Marte, Arizona defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series. The team then advanced to the World Series, where it lost to the Texas Rangers in five games. That success proved short-lived as Arizona missed the playoffs in 2024.

Adam Augustyn The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica