ESPN: Goldschmidt indispensable to D-backs’ playoff chances
Jun 25, 2018, 10:17 AM | Updated: 11:26 am
Arizona Diamondbacks' Paul Goldschmidt, center, is congratulated after scoring on a double hit by Ketel Marte off Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Jerry Vasto in the seventh inning of a baseball game Sunday, June 10, 2018, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
After struggling the first two months of the season, Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has returned to elite form.
The D-backs have climbed back into first place and sit 11 games over .500. Meanwhile, Goldschmidt has been leading the charge in June after the pitching staff excelled leading to the team’s April success.
ESPN’s Dan Szymborski ranked the 10 most indispensable players in the league for team’s with postseason aspirations.
Goldschmidt was ranked fifth holding a 17.7 percent playoff odds boost, according to Szymborski. The D-backs’ playoff odds with Goldschmidt are 59.5 percent and 41.8 percent without their star first baseman. To determine these figures, Szymbroski evaluates both the position of the team as well as the in-house replacements that would need to fill-in should the player go down with an injury.
Within this season, we’ve already been able to make real-life observations as to what happens to Arizona without their proper Goldschmidt contributions. During Goldschmidt’s .144/.252/.278 May, Arizona went 8-19. They’re 35-14 in their other games. Now, other things went wrong for Arizona in May, too, but when a team is scoring fewer than three runs a game, as the D-backs did that month, the first baseman with a .530 OPS has to shoulder a large percentage of the blame.
The 30-year-old face of the franchise’s presence on the list isn’t surprising. When he’s right, he’s among the best players in the game. In the month of June, he’s hit .393 with 17 extra-base hits and has shouldered the offensive load the way A.J. Pollock did in April.
As Goldschmidt has climbed out of his massive struggle at the plate, some numbers jump off the page. His home numbers are still very poor, as he’s slashing .201/.348/.336 at Chase Field this season.
On the road, Goldschmidt is posting a familiar slash line of .322/.404/.724. After the D-backs conclude their road trip Thursday in Miami, it will be interesting to see if Goldschmidt’s bat returns to form at home.
For now, his return to elite status has been a welcome sign as the D-backs seek back-to-back postseason berths for the first time since 2002.
