TAMPA — Coming off the worst season of his major league career, Paul Goldschmidt is continuing some of the work to his approach this spring that helped him close out 2024 on something of a positive note.
The 37-year-old can’t afford not to, especially after what was an especially rough first five months of the regular season at the plate.
But the focus for Goldschmidt, who signed a one-year, $12.5 million deal with the Yankees this offseason, isn’t solely on his bat.
It’s also at first base, where Goldschmidt is a four-time Gold Glove winner, most recently in 2021.
His defensive metrics have slipped in recent years, although those numbers aren’t as reliable at first base as they are at other spots on the field.
Still, Goldschmidt knows he has his work cut out for himself this spring as part of what is a revamped Yankee infield that will only carry over Anthony Volpe at the same position he was at a year ago.
In addition to Goldschmidt at first, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has moved from third base to second in an effort to take advantage of his athleticism, and the team continues to look for a replacement for Chisholm at third, with Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza the leading candidates and DJ LeMahieu on the shelf with an injured left calf.
“I’m getting to know the infielders,” Goldschmidt said at Steinbrenner Field this week in advance of his fifth Grapefruit League game of the spring on Sunday, an 11-1 loss to Atlanta. “I’m used to getting a new infielder every year and now I’m the new one, so I’ll have three or four different guys to learn.”
He’s not anticipating many issues, especially from the middle of the diamond.
“I’ve seen Jazz play third, so if he can play third, short and center, he can play second,’’ Goldschmidt said. “Seeing him up close, he’s gonna make some throws and other plays other second basemen aren’t making. He could play shortstop, just not on this team with Volpe there.”
Goldschmidt added he hadn’t seen much of Volpe while playing with the Cardinals, but has so far been impressed.
“I knew he won a Gold Glove, and he’s just really smart over there,’’ Goldschmidt said.
With Chisholm at second and Volpe at short, there’s still “I Don’t Know” at third. Whoever ends up there, Goldschmidt said he would be putting in extra work to get accustomed to the various angles his new teammates throw from.
“Everyone’s throws move a little different,’’ Goldschmidt said.
It’s a process he takes as seriously as he does his hitting, something that wasn’t always the case.
“I probably didn’t put the same emphasis on defense as I did on hitting my whole life,’’ Goldschmidt said. “You grow up in the minors saying, ‘I’ll just hit.’ That’s what we do a lot at first base. But as I moved up in the minors, I realized if I want to get to the majors, you’ve got to be a good defender.”
Even as he clobbered his way through the Diamondbacks minor league system in less than two full seasons, Goldschmidt altered his thinking.
“If I want to stay up [in the majors] as a rookie, I’m not just gonna go up and mash,’’ Goldschmidt said. “And even if you do, in Arizona, they really talked about defense. That switched my mindset and ever since then, I’ve tried to do everything I can to be as good as defender as I can.’’
