Paul Goldschmidt’s production to drop off in second half?

Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt has done his part to keep the team on top of the NL West throughout the better part of the season. Going into Friday’s game, he is first in the National League in RBI, fourth in home runs and ninth in batting average and doubles.

However, CBS Sports writer Michael Hurcomb says Goldschmidt’s numbers have nowhere to go but down for the second half of the season.

It can’t be overlooked that Goldschmidt’s numbers in his young MLB career have been much better in the first half than second half.

Hurcomb points out that the third-year player has hit .308 with a slugging percentage of .555 and an OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) of .939 in 168 first-half games. That is in contrast to his second-half numbers of a .263 batting average, .447 slugging percentage and .792 OPS in 119 games. (He actually began his career in the second half of the 2011 season.)

The 2012 season was Goldschmidt’s first full year in the Majors, and his performance in the second half was disproportionate to what he did in the first.

Goldschmidt came back in 2012 to hit .271 in the second half, but he hit just eight home runs and slugged .431 in 71 games.

While the past two seasons are too small of a sample size to write off Goldschmidt’s second-half production for the rest of his career, now is as good of a time as any for him to start shedding the perception that he is more than a pre-All-Star break standout.