Goldschmidt focuses on 'doing my job' at this stage of career

ST. LOUIS -- There were times in Paul Goldschmidt’s first few MLB seasons -- back when he was in his 20s, had a full head of hair and a bright and cheery smile -- when the veteran players around him would talk of their careers being like a dying clock and the tick, tick, tick that they constantly heard was their time in the big leagues withering away.

Back in those days, Goldschmidt not only couldn’t fully understand their perspective, but he also didn’t care much because he figured he had a long and distinguished career ahead of him in the game.

However, now that he’s less than a month away from his 36th birthday and trying his best to slog through an otherwise forgettable season where the Cardinals are almost certainly out of the playoff hunt, Goldschmidt understands completely the analogy of a player’s career resembling a dying clock or sands dropping out of an hourglass. Like all athletes, Goldschmidt is uncertain how many more years he has left to chase a championship. The fact that the opportunity to do that this season appears out of reach is gutting to the player who lives to compete even though he might not always show it outwardly.

“I think that [dwindling time] always plays into it,” said Goldschmidt, who homered and reached base five times as the Cardinals rallied twice to beat the Athletics 7-5 on Monday at Busch Stadium.

“I mean, you wish you maybe had understood that in the earlier part of your career, but you can't until you go through it,” Goldschmidt said of being in the latter stages of his career. “You remember hearing from guys who were nearing the end of their careers and their perspective was different from where I was as a young player. Now, I see it a lot more clearly.

“As you know, a career is only so long and you don't know how long it's going to last, but that [proverbial ticking clock] is definitely something I'm aware of.”

Something Goldschmidt has also been aware of is his drop-off in performance from 2022 when he hit .317 with a .982 OPS while smashing 35 home runs and driving in 115 runs. He hit just .265 with four homers and 14 RBIs in July and came into Monday having not homered in 15 games.

On Monday, he smashed a JP Sears pitch 401 feet for the 334th home run of his career. He also had a single, his 10th stolen base, three walks and three stellar, short-hop scoops at first base.

“He goes in and out of feeling good with his swing, and sometimes it’s a lengthy period, but his ability to survive during that time by taking the singles the other way, he’s good at that,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Some people end up slumping through the entirety of that stint. But he still figures out a way to do a little bit and help.”

Goldschmidt said he and teammate Nolan Arenado have been consumed all season with what they could have done to help the Cardinals from falling out of the race. The two of them sit next to one another on the team plane, they often dine together, and they rarely hit without the other nearby. The topic of many of their talks has been what could have been done to avoid this being a dour season.

“I mean, that's been happening the whole year,” Goldschmidt said of reflections on a season where the Cardinals have spent 98 of 134 days in last place. “When you don't perform individually, or as a team, like you want, you're trying to find ways to improve and get better. So, we talk about that all the time. But, we can't fix mistakes that have been made, so the focus is on trying to do my job and learn from what mistakes have been made.”

Goldschmidt admitted that it’s difficult for him to think now about the Cardinals bouncing back and contending in 2024. Unsure as to how many more times he will have to win a title, he tries to ignore the tick, tick, tick of a career in the later innings that he never understood years earlier.

“For me, it's hard to think about next year because you have no idea what anything's going to look like,” he said. “So, I've just tried really hard to keep my focus on trying to do my job. I haven't done as good a job as I'm capable of this season, so I’m trying to find ways for me to improve and for me to play better and help us win. I think that's very important for us as players -- to stay in the moment and not lose out on focusing on the moment.”