Slumping Goldy at heart of Cardinals' offensive struggles

MILWAUKEE -- Asked if he thought seeing the fewest number of fastballs in his career might be playing into one of his worst starts ever to a season, Cardinals star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt gave an assessment of his game that was about as blunt as a punch in the gut.

“I basically haven’t performed on every pitch … and location … and situation,” a frustrated Goldschmidt said between sighs. “It’s just been a combination of a lot of different things. It’s really not even about me targeting one thing that pitchers are doing. Right now, it’s just about putting good swings on pitches and having good at-bats.

“If they throw more offspeed pitches, I should be able to hit those, and if they throw more fastballs, I should be able to hit those. I’m not really doing either of those. … As a hitter, you can’t be up there guessing, and I have to be able to handle different pitches. But really, I haven’t done a good enough job of hitting any of them this year.”

Goldschmidt’s monumental struggles -- he’s currently mired in a career-worst in-season skid of 0-for-his-last-28 after going hitless again in Friday’s 11-2 loss to the rival Brewers -- is something of a microcosm of what the free-falling Cardinals have been facing for weeks. An offense they hardly touched in an offseason spent on fortifying the pitching staff has badly betrayed the Cardinals, who rank in the bottom third of the league in most every major offensive category.

As a result, the Cardinals have lost six games in a row and seven of eight to fall a season-worst eight games below .500 and eight games back of the NL Central-leading Brewers.

“I will wake up in the morning and figure out a way to continue to have their back and encourage them through a really [difficult] time,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “I’m going to continue to support the hell out of that group, and the staff is working extremely hard. We haven’t figured a way out of this. One of the best things you can be in this industry is consistent. That’s all I know to do it.”

The Cardinals have continued to back superstars Nolan Arenado and Goldschmidt even though their struggles have played major roles in the team’s downfall in recent weeks. Arenado, who took the blame for Thursday’s loss when he had a defensive misplay and he failed to come through in a bases-loaded situation, has two home runs this season. Meanwhile, Goldschmidt’s plunge has been even more pronounced. His average dipped to .190 and his OPS fell to .534 after Friday’s 0-for-4 outing that came after two work days that were filled with extra batting-practice time.

A notoriously slow starter -- even when he won the National League’s Most Valuable Player award in 2022 -- Goldschmidt’s struggles this time around feel like something much more systemic. Not only does he have just two homers and five extra-base hits this season, he’s also struck out 47 times compared to just 16 walks.

Some of the reason for the struggles is how opposing pitchers are attacking him. Goldschmidt came into Friday seeing just 54.5 percent fastballs, per Baseball Savant, and he’s hitting just .227 with 22 strikeouts against those pitches. He’s seeing breaking balls 34.1 percent of the time and he’s hit just .190 off those pitches, and it’s also been no picnic against offspeed pitches (.063).

Sliders, in particular, have given Goldschmidt fits -- laying off the nasty ones and being unable to drive the spinners that stay in the zone. In addition to hitting just .130 on sliders, he has a skyrocketing 46.2 percent strikeout rate on at-bats that end with that particular pitch.

“I haven't really done well against most anything, so really I’m just trying to focus on the stuff I can control, and whatever they throw up there, I’m trying to hit it,” Goldschmidt said.

Cardinals teammate Lars Nootbaar, who idolizes the seven-time All-Star, thinks Goldschmidt will soon break out of his slump considering how he’s working before games.

Said Nootbaar: “I saw something the other day, when during his MVP year, he went through something like this. Nobody wants to go through this. But he is a future Hall of Famer and he’s so good that he’ll put the work in and get out of this.”

Known for his even-keeled temperament, Goldschmidt said he hasn’t lost his confidence, but his frustration stems from a feeling of letting teammates down.

“It’s not about saying, ‘Well, that was a bad start, and now I need to make up for it or something,’” he said. “For me, the best chance for success is staying in the moment. I’ll just continue to try and do that.”