I written here at the Snake Pit, I could almost combine them into a short story just shy of 10,000 words. 9,359 to be exact. That not including the hundreds of Snake Bytes and Round Tables where I spent a paragraph or two fawning over the player. I loved the guy, and so did the vast majority of Dacks fans . It why I began drafting this article before the voting for the Dacks First Baseman of the Decade voting had even gone live. Apologies in advance for occasional similarities to those past pieces as I covered the legend in various aspects over the years. No sense in reinventing the wheel here. View this as a revised edition of those entries. You might want to consume this in segments due to the length. Don call me long winded, as I tasked with summarizing a player in one article that we dedicated an entire week to upon his departure last year.As I pointed out numerous times in the past, there exists an alternate universe where Goldy greatness never took place in an and USA Today each named him as the Best Hitter and Minor League Player of the Year respectively in 2011. His meteoric rise through the minor leagues resulted in him being selected to play in the Futures Game in 2011 during the first All Star Week ever hosted at Chase Field. What Dacks fans who attended the game did not know at the time was that they be watching him in the Valley on a regular basis shortly thereafter for he was called up in August of 2011 as the Dacks progressed to winning the National League West. We given grief to Keith Law every chance we get on the Snake Pit for his early takes on Paul. There were a pair of tweets from Keith which came around Goldy August 2011 debut where he stated the player was quickly becoming massively overrated and a likely platoon player. Why he feel that way Well, in his first taste of the Majors you could say Goldy was pretty terrible against left handed pitchers, albeit in a small sample size, and had an obvious weakness against curveballs. Law gracefully admitted why he was wrong during an MVP caliber 2013 from Paul.hat I didn see, or know, about Goldschmidt is that he one of the highest-aptitude hitters in the game -- boasting an outstanding work ethic https://www.baseballstoreonline.com/Wyatt_Mathisen-50, according to several sources I spoke with who know Goldschmidt personally, but also the intelligence to take instruction and make adjustments as needed. He among the best in the game at addressing holes or weaknesses, whether in his swing or on defense or on the bases, such as closing the hole he showed on the inner half in his first half-season in the majors, where right-handers especially could beat him with velocity.?- Keith Law, September 2013We were witness to routine greatness from the get go with Goldschmidt. In only the second game of his big league career, he demolished a 94 MPH fastball right down the middle of the plate off Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco for a two run shot to left field. It signaled the beginning of one legend and the ending of another, Lincecum, essentially simultaneously. Timmy he Freak?was a two time Cy Young Award winner and four time All Star before he ever faced Goldy. He went from having a 137 ERA+ from 2007 through 2011 to a 72 ERA+ beyond that point. It obviously all Paul Goldschmidt doing Asdrubal Cabrera Face Mask, because in 34 career plate appearances against Lincecum he hit .536/.559/1.357 with 7 home runs, 17 RBI, 4 walks, and only 5 strikeouts. Complete utter dominance and great comedy.Goldy earned his way onto the 2011 playoff roster following his performance in the final two months of that season having gone plate appearances with 8 home runs, and 9 doubles which was good enough for a 118 wRC+/117 OPS+. He didn play in the first game of the National Division Series against the Milwaukee Brewers instead giving way to veteran mid-season acquisition Lyle Overbay. Overbay went 0-for-3- in the opener, so Paul was given the nod to start in game two at Miller Park hitting in the five spot. Facing future teammate and likely Hall of Famer Zack Greinke Paul hit his first career playoff home run in the second inning. That gave Kirk Gibson all the confidence he needed to lock the rookie into the same starting lineup position for the rest of the NLDS, and he was rewarded handsomely for doing so despite the series defeat. Paul hit a deafening two out grand slam in game three at Chase Field off Shaun Marcum producing one of the more infamous GIF in Dacks history. Hilariously, the Brewers elected to walk Miguel Montero ahead of Goldy to load the bases! Enormous mistake https://www.baseballstoreonline.com/Keury_Mella-27. His grand slam was only the third ever to come off the bat of a rookie player in the playoffs. All told, he finished that NLDS with seven hits, two walks, and two home runs in eighteen plate appearances.Following that 2011 playoff appearance the legend of Paul Goldschmidt would continue to blossom, but Arizona would not return to the playoffs with him on the roster for another six seasons. Lyle Overbay was re-signed for the 2012 season to continue serving as a mentor for Goldschmidt, but it almost immediately became obvious that Goldschmidt was already a budding superstar. He started in 136 games that season and appeared in 145 effectively rendering Overbay as nothing more than a bench warmer until his eventual release later in the season Steve Hathaway Flag. Arizona failed to repeat as division champions falling victim to the even year antics of the World Series Champion San Francisco Giants, and the disappointing season would usher in another period of transition for the team. In his first full major league season, Goldschmidt hit .286/.359/.490 with 20 home runs and 80 RBI for a 126 OPS+. Perhaps most surprising beyond his immediate success was his baserunning ability as a power hitting first baseman. Paul hit 43 doubles and was 18-for-21 in stolen base attempts drawing comparisons to Jeff Bagwell who he grew up watching in Houston. The 18 stolen bases were well above his single season totals at all professional levels in previous seasons, and set him apart from other first basemen in the league. Suddenly, the bat only bulky first baseman drafted out of Texas State University was turning heads not just for his prowess at the plate, but also for his baserunning IQ and defensive wizardry soon thereafter. After the disappointing 2012 season for the team as a whole https://www.baseballstoreonline.com/Carson_Kelly-9, Kevin Towers traded Justin Upton to the Atlanta Braves. Having moved one of his best offensive players, Towers wisely ensured that Goldschmidt would fill that role for the foreseeable future with one of the most team friendly contracts ever. Paul signed five year, $32 million dollar extension with a club option for a sixth season. It was poor timing on the behalf of Goldschmidt and his agent because had he waited until after an MVP caliber 2013 season he could have commanded far more either through a contract extension or eventual salary arbitration.hat not to like,?[Kirk] Gibson said. mean, everything he does from the time he gets to the park until the time he leaves every day. He very good at preparation, before, during the game, after, a great teammate, works really hard. He has high aspirations to be a world champion. He wants to win a Gold Glove. And he would never change. It will never change until he stops playing. We talked about the iamondback way the last couple of years and he a model of a Diamondback guy.t was during the 2013 season when he became a perennial MVP candidate, and it was the first of six All Star appearances in a row for him. The six Mid-Summer Classic nods are the most in franchise history ahead of Randy Johnson and Luis Gonzalez with five each. He go on to win a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award at the end of the season, repeating that feat in 2015 and 2017 . Goldy finished second in NL MVP voting that season to Andrew McCutchen, and would also go on to finish second in 2015, third in 2017, sixth in 2018, and eleventh in 2016. Around this time last year I looked at the entirety of his career with the franchise and discussed my beliefs on whether or not he was given the shaft in any season with the team in MVP voting. I reached the conclusion that his best opportunity to win the award was in 2013 where he lost to Andrew McCutchen. Goldy led Cutch in OPS, RBI, HR, and runs, but McCutchen was more valuable in terms of fWAR, bWAR, and wins above average . Not helping matters was that the Pittsburgh Pirates made the playoffs for the first time in two decades that season while the Dacks played golf in October. Narrative certainly had an impact because of that. It was the best finish by a Diamondback player since Luis Gonzalez and Matt Williams finished in 3rd place in 2001 and 1999 respectively https://www.baseballstoreonline.com/Caleb_Smith-8.As fate would have it, McCutchen and Goldschmidt quest for an MVP award were intertwined again in 2014. Both men were on track for equally impressive encore seasons, but a beanball battle between the Pirates and Diamondbacks in the second half arguably hurt both men chances. It started when Ernesto Frieri fractured Goldschmidt left hand with an inside fastball on August 1st cutting his season down at that moment. It was the first, and to date the only time, that Goldy has been placed on the injured list. Kirk Gibson, Arizona manager at the time, known to adhere to the nwritten rules?of baseball, saw to it that the opposing dugout best player had his just desserts in retaliation. McCutchen was drilled in the back later on in the series, and had to miss two weeks of the season as a result. McCutchen still finished the year third in voting, but it possible he could have repeated as the MVP without the injury.Goldy came back with as much of a vengeance as he could muster given his calm demeanor during the 2015 season putting together his best campaign to date. He posted an absurd 199 OPS+ in the first half of the season, and only had one month below 165. That season he slashed.with 33 home runs, 110 RBI, 21 stolen bases. His intentional walk rate skyrocketed to 29 and he led the National League in that category for the second time in his career https://www.baseballstoreonline.com/Luis_Frias-30. Unsurprisingly, he was named the starting first baseman for the National League All Stars becoming the first Diamondbacks position player to start multiple times. He didn stand much of a chance in the MVP voting that season having run into the buzzsaw that was Bryce Harper 10 WAR season.There is one very unusual moment in Goldy history during this time period that always stands out in my mind. In a truly rare display of frustration in 2015, with the Diamondbacks hovering around .500 and losing four of their previous five games, and the birth of his first child just a few days away likely weighing on his mind, Goldy destroyed his bat in the dugout after a strikeout on August 29th against the Oakland Athletics in the 8th inning with the game separated by one run. I can hardly count on one hand how many times I ever seen him that frustrated before, and it was oddly refreshing to watch. The only other instance that immediately comes to mind is when he was hit by a pitch, seemingly intentionally, in Colorado during the 2017 season . Before he took his base, he turned to the catcher and appeared to say hat bullshit?in the calmest manner I ever seen anyone swear before.2016 was a lost season for the Arizona Diamondbacks as a whole, and Goldy production took a bit of a step back from his lofty standards as well. The Dacks were one of the worst teams in the league. His OPS+ at season end was only 133, his lowest since 2012, and he finished at 4.7 bWAR, hardly better than his injury shortened 2014 season. The silver lining was that he tallied a career high 32 stolen bases, almost unfathomable for a first baseman let alone one of his size. Paul trailed Jean Segura by one stolen base for the team lead that season, but it was still good enough for sixth best in franchise history. Paul became the only first baseman since Jeff Bagwell in 1997 to hit 20+ home runs and steal 30+ bases.Mike Hazen front office took over upon the conclusion of the 2016 season. For the first time in Goldy Diamondbacks career, some wondered if it would be in the best interest of the team to trade Paul Goldschmidt. Hazen could have opted to trade away most of the team assets, including Goldschmidt, with an eye towards success in future seasons. Alternatively, he was patient with the roster he was given and opted for a few minor tweaks as opposed to a massive overhaul. Mike was determined to give the team an opportunity to succeed, and evaluate their performance prior to making any franchise altering decisions. Much to our benefit that strategy proved to pay dividends, and Paul Goldschmidt was once again the spearhead of the offense. In the month of August, he was in the midst of the MVP discussion with even a few convinced this was his best opportunity to win the award as the Diamondbacks marched towards their first playoff berth since 2011. Over a span of 132 games from Opening Day to August 31st he was batting with a 159 wRC+ and 33 home runs. Perhaps one of the best games in his career to date came on August 3rd, 2017 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. That game started an hour and a half later than it was supposed to because of weather and had two subsequent rain delays of at least thirty minutes. Goldy opened the contest with a three run homer in the 1st inning off Jose Quintana. He put the team up 6-1 against the defending World Champions with another two run shot in the 5th. After the pitching staff allowed the Cubs to tie the score at eight by the 8th inning, it appeared that this unusually long contest would be headed to extra innings. That was until Goldy stepped in against closer Wade Davis in the top of the 9th, and promptly deposited his shortest home run of the contest into the left field bleachers. It was the first three home run game of his career.When the calendar month turned to September, he cooled off considerably. Manager Torey Lovullo withheld Paul from the lineup on September 4th against the Dodgers with what was described as right elbow soreness. Goldy started feeling the discomfort during a homestand that began on August 25th. An MRI demonstrated no structural damage, but his performance during the final months of the season led some to believe that it was a more significant issue. The final 22 games of his season were easily the worst of his career which saw him hit with a 37 wRC+. He wound up finishing in third place in the MVP voting and earned first place votes for the first time in his career, so it is quite possible he could have won the award for the first time provided with a strong finish. He made his fifth All Star team, this time as a reserve, and won his third Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.All of that paled in comparison seeing him have the opportunity to suit up for the Diamondbacks in the Postseason for the first time since his rookie season in 2011 bringing us full circle to what he meant to this franchise. The setting was the National League Wild Card Game against the Colorado Rockies at a sold out Chase Field. I was standing, along with 48,802 fans in attendance, somewhere close to the visitor bullpen, when he came to the plate in the bottom of the 1st with runners on the corners and no outs. By this time the oldy?chants were almost deafening, a far cry from the last time he stepped to the plate in a playoff appearance 6 years ago. This time was drastically different. All eyes were glued to him, and very few fans were surprised by the outcome when he swung the bat at that first pitch. Jon Gray missed high and inside with a curveball, and Paul made sure he paid for it. It even caught the attention of old friend Andrew McCutchen.So much for that 0 for 17 skid by Goldy.