Goldy has been everything the Yanks expected, and more

Not every veteran player comes in hot when they come to New York, and you can look that up, all the way back to when Tino Martinez struggled mightily in April 1996 after replacing Don Mattingly at first base for the Yankees. But then Martinez hit a grand slam at the end of the month against the Orioles, turned things around and became such a key figure of the last Yankees dynasty.

Anthony Rizzo, who played first base before Paul Goldschmidt got to Yankee Stadium, struggled himself when he came over to the Yankees from the Cubs. Across town? Francisco Lindor, now a great Met, hit .230 in his first season in New York. There are more examples than that across New York baseball history.

Just not so much with Goldschmidt, an NL MVP with the Cardinals just three years ago. After Wednesday night’s Yankees victory over the Royals, Goldschmidt -- currently a leadoff hitter for the first time in his career -- is batting .348, has a .397 on-base percentage and is doing his part to make sure that Aaron Judge doesn’t miss Juan Soto the way Soto apparently misses Judge these days.

“[Goldschmidt] has,” Judge said, “been a huge piece for us.”

Sometimes it feels as if Judge has been doing it all himself, especially with him hitting .409 and having just won another game for the Yankees with another home run the way he did Wednesday. Cody Bellinger, hitting in Soto’s old No. 2 slot, left Wednesday night’s game with a .185 batting average, despite saving the game with a diving play on the game’s last out. Jazz Chisholm Jr., hitting behind Judge, is at .176 after all the headlines and power he generated early with his torpedo bat. Anthony Volpe, behind Chisholm, is at .219.

But the 37-year old Goldschmidt is doing just fine, thank you, hitting the way he has, though he hasn’t yet hit for power. Here’s something else Judge has said about him: “He’s such a pro.” If you’ve followed Goldschmidt’s career -- in Arizona and in St. Louis before he got to New York -- you know there is absolutely no surprise there.

I asked John Mozeliak, who runs baseball operations for the Cardinals, to set aside what Goldschmidt was like as a player in St. Louis and instead speak to what he was like as a citizen of the game.

Said Mozeliak: “He was perhaps even a better person than a player. Great husband and father, generous with his time and dollars to help people. Great guy to have a drink with, as there are no topics he won’t discuss, even if baseball is his favorite.”

By his high standards, Goldschmidt was coming off a disappointing season with the Cardinals before the Yankees signed him during the winter. Two years removed from that MVP Award (35 homers, 115 RBIs and a .317 average), Goldschmidt scuffled over the first 100 games of the season, on his way to a .245 average with just 22 home runs. But he thought he found something over the last couple of months, and at least had an OPS of .800 the rest of the way.

Now he has broken in the way he has with the Yankees, getting hits, getting on base and playing a predictably professional first base. By the way? Even though he did have a disappointing final act with the Cardinals, the Yankees would have been quite happy with the numbers he put into the books in light of how little they got out of their first basemen in 2024.

“It’s nice to get hits, and the team’s been playing well,” Goldschmidt said the other day. “So I’ve felt pretty good. But there’s a long season to go.”

You really do never know how players, even players who have had a long and honorable career the way Goldschmidt has, will respond to the stage in New York, and particularly the stage at Yankee Stadium. It took Lindor time. Back in the day, it took Tino less time. Edwin Díaz would, of course, become an elite closer for the Mets, at his fastball-best looking like the best and most dominant closer the team has ever had. But his record in 2019, his first season in New York, was 2-7. His ERA was a terrifying 5.59. He figured it out. It just took time.

It has taken no time at all for Goldschmidt, with the Yankees on a one-year, make-good deal. They weren’t afraid of how Goldschmidt’s production had dropped across his last two seasons in St. Louis. He clearly wasn’t afraid to come and take a swing at the big city.

"This guy is probably on his way to the Hall of Fame, and he’s dripping in humility,” Aaron Boone said last week. “[His] message is ... ‘I want to hit here, I want to play here.’”

Boone then added: “He’s going to play well for us between the lines, but is going to elevate our room, too.”

Maybe the bottom line on Goldschmidt comes from Mozeliak, his old boss.

“Class act,” he said.

Classing up the top of a new batting order. Classing up first base. In modern slang, “gas” is a way to describe someone going good. Paul Goldschmidt, a Yankee now, seems to have plenty left in the tank.