Kurkjian: Paul Goldschmidt’s low numbers for D-backs ‘remarkable’

One of the most confounding storylines of the 2018 MLB season — and not just the Arizona Diamondbacks’ 2018 season — has been the play of first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

The 30-year-old is a five-time All-Star and three-time Silver Slugger Award winner, but his batting average (.210), on-base percentage (.328) and slugging percentage (.395) are all on pace for career lows by a sizable margin.

ESPN’s Keith Law and Tim Kurkjian discussed the slumping Goldschmidt Monday on the Baseball Tonight podcast.

“It’s a really confusing story,” Kurkjian said.

“For him to be this low in batting average, on-base and slugging is just remarkable, and all the numbers and the people I’ve talked to have suggested he’s really getting beaten by the fastball and has all year, especially high-velocity pitches up in the strike zone.”

A career-high 38.6 percent of pitches Goldschmidt sees are fastballs, and according to FanGraphs, the number of runs above average produced per 100 fastballs thrown is just 0.85 — down from a career-high 2.42 last season. Granted, Goldschmidt is relatively struggling against all pitches except the slider, according to FanGraph’s pitch value statistics.

Kurkjian isn’t buying this to be something that lasts the entire season.

“I just refuse to believe he’s gonna stay in anything close to this for the rest of the season because he’s too young and too strong and too good but just another reminder — the beauty of baseball that really good hitters can go into slumps like this for two months at a time,” Kurkjian said.

Goldschmidt was vocal to manager Torey Lovullo about his slump in mid-May, giving Lovullo specific instructions when asked about his struggles.

“I’ll share exactly something that he told me to tell you guys because he’s aware of these questions being asked often,” manager Torey Lovullo said Friday, relaying a recent conversation between the two.

“And he said, ‘Just tell them that I suck.’”

Since receiving a day off on May 29, Goldschmidt picked up a hit in his first three games back, putting him on a five-game hitting streak until he went 0-for-4 against the Miami Marlins on Sunday. Goldschmidt was unable to continue a climb up in May after recovering in the second half of April and hitting .297 for the month. He hit 14-for-97 in May, good for a .144 batting average.

In Monday’s loss to the San Francisco Giants, Goldschmidt was 1-for-3.

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