Soon To Be Announced NL MVP Paul Goldschmidt Should Be In The Hall Of Fame One Day
Even Bob Nightengale won't get this one wrong. Paul Goldschmidt is about to win his first MVP tonight but it's far from his first major award.
Goldschmidt has been really good for a long time but he's never had that monster season. Even this year, he'll win the NL MVP (and it might even be unanimous) but his season was still dwarfed by Aaron Judge hitting 62 homers in the AL. Hopefully winning the MVP will change things but I think it's easy to look past Goldschmidt. He's lead the league in home runs before but still has never hit 37 homers in a season. But he has had seven seasons with over 30 homers. The brilliance in Paul Goldschmidt lies in the consistency.
The only thing that could stand in the way of him making Cooperstown is his age. He got a relatively late start and didn't have his first full season in the big leagues until he was 24 years old. He'll be entering his age 35 season next year and is currently sitting at 1750 hits and 315 career home runs. He's under contract for two more seasons with St. Louis.
Jeff Bagwell got into the HOF with 2314 hits and 449 home runs. I think those marks are in play for Goldschmidt. He is obviously showing no signs of slowing down as this past season was the best of his career. He's also very durable. In his last four seasons with St. Louis, he's only missed a total of 16 games. If he can eclipse Bagwell's numbers while playing in a less offensive era, that should be enough for Goldy to get in.
Despite never making to a World Series, he's been really good in the playoffs as well. He has eight home runs in 23 games and he's slugging .576 lifetime in the postseason. If you want to use the Bagwell comparison again, it's not like he won a ring either. Obviously, there is still time for Goldschmidt to get there especially with the Cardinals being a perennial contender. I just hope not getting to the World Series won't hold him back. It's not like it's his fault.
Goldy winning the MVP tonight should change the perception a bit. I think he's long been known as a very good hitter but I don't hear him mentioned when the best players in the league come up. He's a little younger than the great pitchers headed for Cooperstown (Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Zack Grienke) and he's a little older than the world class hitters (Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Manny Machado). Bagwell was in the same spot with Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux all older and Ken Griffey Jr., Derek Jeter and A-Rod all younger.
I love Fred McGriff to an almost insane degree. He'll likely make the Hall Of Fame next month when the Contemporary Baseball Era Committee meets to decide on players next month. Having said that, Goldschmidt is better than McGriff. Hopefully when the time comes, the only question about Goldschmidt and Cooperstown is whether he should have a Diamondbacks or Cardinals hat on his plaque.