As Paul Goldschmidt goes, so go the St. Louis Cardinals.
Goldschmidt was named the July Player of the Month for the National League after batting .308 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs in 25 July games. From July 22 to 27 alone, the Cardinals’ first baseman homered in six consecutive games and drove in 13 runs.
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Goldschmidt’s hot bat helped propel St. Louis to a streak of its own. The Cards went 16-9 throughout the month of July, including at one point winning 12 of 14 games. The Cardinals seem to be peaking at the right time in the second half of the season and are now squarely back in the playoff conversation. They trail the Cubs for the NL Central lead by only 2.5 games coming into Tuesday, and they’re only a half game out of a wild-card spot.
Goldschmidt is in the midst of his first season in a Cardinals uniform after spending the first eight seasons of his major-league career with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was a six-time All-Star in Arizona, contending for MVP awards, and in March of this year he signed the largest contract in the history of the St. Louis Cardinals organization: a five-year, $130 million extension through the 2024 season.
His first few months in St. Louis didn’t quite live up to the hype — his overall .258 batting average is the lowest since his rookie season, and he missed the 2019 All-Star Game. There were rumblings of discontent, but Goldschmidt doesn’t pay much attention to it. He plays for the Lord.
“Everybody has a foundation they are trying to live their life by, mine is just the Lord’s Word and the Bible and what He said. I’m coming up short with that all the time,” Goldschmidt told STLSportsPage.com. “… [But] definitely, my goal is to make my faith in Jesus the center and most important thing in my life.”
Goldschmidt is of Jewish ancestry and was raised Catholic, and told STL Sports Page that he wasn’t a Christian when he arrived in the majors. His faith developed during his years in Arizona, as God began to speak to him through His Word and tear down his misconceptions about what Christians were like.
“I think sometimes the outside view of Christians is that the guy doesn’t care about baseball, doesn’t care if they win, and I think that’s the farthest thing from the truth. That’s the way I’ve been taught. You’re supposed to go out there and compete with everything you have. I believe you should use the gifts that Jesus has given you and use them to glorify Him.”
So even as the talk surrounding Goldschmidt’s first season with the Cardinals shifts after his impressive July performance, he remains rooted in the Lord. August is another opportunity to glorify God as Goldschmidt seeks to continue his hot streak and help lift his team into the playoffs.
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