Photography courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, pdsphil
Busch Stadium
On Wednesday, the Cardinals announced that they had acquired Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, 31, and on Friday, the team will hold a press conference to introduce the new player to St. Louis. The introduction begins at 10:30 a.m. at Busch Stadium, and you can stream it on mlb.com. The Diamondbacks, in return, picked up pitcher Luke Weaver, catcher Carson Kelly, and infielder Andrew Young from the Cards.
Goldschmidt—or Goldy, as he's nicknamed—is a three-time Gold Glove winner and gives the Cardinals some much-needed cred. Look, Matt Carpenter is pretty psyched.
Here are five other things to know about our newest Cards player.
1. The guy can bat in addition to play the field. In fact, the word "lethal" is being thrown around. In 2018, his batting average was 15th in the National League. Check out this highlights clip:
2. He's an all-star. No, really. According to MLB, Goldschmidt has been an MLB All-Star for the past six seasons. Last season, he had a .290 batting average with 33 home runs, 83 RBIs, 35 doubles, and 90 walks.
3. He's a humanitarian. Goldschmidt was nominated for the Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes a player who gives back, in 2016 for the volunteer work he does with Phoenix Children's Hospital. That year was the third he was up for the award. He also helps children through his Goldy's Fund 4 Kids, which provides aid to families at the hospital.
4. In fact, he's being compared to Albert Pujols. KMOX interviewed Daniel Descalso, a former Cardinal who has played two seasons with Goldschmidt on the Arizona team. Descalso told the radio station: "The things that he does so well and his presence in the community, obviously when I played with Albert it was his 10th year in, Goldy has got about six or seven, but that's as close of a comparison as I can get. So Cardinals fans are lucky to be getting a superstar like Goldy." You can listen to the full interview here.
5. Goldschmidt and Carpenter could make quite the formidable pair. As Deadspin points out, with this acquisition, the pair of Goldschmidt and Carpenter means that the Cardinals now have two of the top-10 MVP vote-getters last season. No wonder why Carpenter's so excited.
