Paul Goldschmidt (2022)

 

Paul Goldschmidt 🇺🇸(2022)

Paul Edward Goldschmidt (Wilmington, Delaware, September 10, 1987) is an American professional baseball first baseman who plays for the St. Louis Cardinals. Goldschmidt has participated in seven All-Star Games and has been awarded four Gold Gloves and five Silver Slugger Awards.

He became the National League MVP by finishing the season with a batting average of .317, .981 OPS, 115 RBIs, and 35 home runs. 

He achieved his highest batting average since 2015, when he recorded a .321. Goldschmidt has maintained his outstanding performance since his debut in 2011, accumulating 1,110 RBIs, 336 home runs, and a batting average of .294 over 13 seasons in the major leagues.

We will analyze his performance during the 2022 season, his plate discipline, and see what led him to win the MVP over other contenders.

If you have any questions regarding the types of pitches (Fastball, Changeup, etc.), here is all the necessary information

Enjoy it 🙌

The data provided is from Baseball Savant.

1-Hits

Goldschmidt received 2,701 pitches in 2022, of which 30.7% were FS Fastballs, followed by Sliders at 23.6% and Sinkers at 17.4%. He made 178 hits, including 102 singles, 41 doubles, and 35 home runs, 115 RBI. 

In the graph below, we can see that the vast majority of his hits were made with FS Fastballs (32%), and a significant portion of his hits were within the strike zone, particularly in the central part with 26 hits, 11 of which were Fastballs.

Ranked seventh in most hits (178), tenth in doubles with 41, tied for seventh place in home runs (35), finished third in batting average (.317), and claimed the first position in Batting Average on Balls in Play (BAPIP) with .368. All these rankings are across the entire MLB.

In the chart below, we can see his distribution of hits: 24.3% of the hits were to the left field, 55.0% to the center field, and 20.8% to the right field. Out of the total hits, 59 singles and 8 doubles were infield hits.

He was ranked in the top 25 with the highest percentage of hits with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher(Hard Hit%). Out of which 106 out of 178 hits were at speeds greater than 95 mph.

Before we continue, here's a compilation of the best Paul Goldschmidt  moments from 2022.

Now we observe his distribution of hits by pitch type. He produced 33 singles against FS Fastballs and 25 singles against Sinkers. 

40% of his hits were Flare/Burners, showcasing his exceptional batting technique to place the ball away from the defense. He is also ranked in the top 25 with the most barrels (49)(you can see more information about Barrel here). Additionally, we can see that his batting technique is highly effective, as only one hit was poorly executed or had low speed (0.6% Weak). You can find more information about launch speed angle here.

With Runners In Scoring Position (RISP), he managed to average .308, 67 RBIs, and 7 home runs. Something very impressive is his RISP performance with two outs in the game, where he averaged .346 with 35 RBIs, 5 home runs, and strikeout percentage of 21% in 55 at-bats.

Finally, we can see a radial chart displaying his launch angle and exit velocity, with an average launch angle of 15°. 96 hits had an exit velocity over 98 mph, out of which 34 were home runs.

To complement the analysis, here's the heatmap chart of Sinker and FS Fastball , which were the two pitches with most hits.

2- Plate Discipline

With 141 strikeouts, he was one of the players who struck out the most in 2022 (ranked in the top 40), recording a 21.7% Strikeout%. The pitch that yielded the most strikes for him was the FS Fastball 29.6%, followed by the Slider 28.3%. He received a significant number of strikes in the lower part of the strike zone with 107 strikes, marking a clear trend where he had difficulty locating a pitch or making contact and missing in the red zones. 

The bottom-right area outside the strike zone was where he had the most strikeouts with 26, out of which 15 were with the Slider. He also had 20 strikeouts in the center of the strike zone, 11 of which were with the FS Fastball.

Goldschmidt was ranked in the top 20 with a 21.6% Swing and Miss rate within the strike zone.

Between the combined total of hits and batted ball attempts, 58% were batted ball attempts (outs, sacrifice flies, etc.), and 42% were hits. This reflects his high contact-to-hit ratio, making him a highly effective player for the Cardinals.