Here’s why Paul Goldschmidt is the St. Louis Cardinals most important player in 2020

Paul Goldschmidt, by his standards, had a subpar 2019 season for the St. Louis Cardinals. They badly need him to come through in 2020.

With a shortened 2020 MLB season, it will be critical for the stars on contending teams to get off to a fast start, as they won’t have 162 games to get things going, but only 60. There are few players that it’s hard to imagine this applying to more than Paul Goldschmidt of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Before the 2019 season, the Cardinals traded for Goldschmidt to anchor both first base and their offense. The veteran right-handed hitter was coming off six straight seasons of at least a 4.7 WAR, four of those years being over 6. Last year, however, he posted just a 2.4 WAR despite playing in a career-high 161 games.

Based at least on the traditional numbers, it wasn’t a horrible 2019 season, as he hit 34 home runs and drove in 97. However, batting average, OBP, and SLG all dropped significantly from 2018; his .821 OPS was his worst mark since his first full season in 2012. Goldschmidt’s defensive WAR of -1.0 was also the worst mark of his career.

Why St. Louis Cardinals need Paul Goldschmidt to step up in 2020

With Goldschmidt about to turn 33 later this season, are we starting to see a decline? Or will he be able to bounce back in a shortened 2020 season? For the Cardinals to defend their NL Central title, they’ll need Goldschmidt to come flying out of the gate. Last year, he only posted a .769 OPS in the first half and hit just a combined five home runs with only 12 RBIs in May and June.

Also of concern was the lack of clutch hitting in 2019. In what Baseball Reference calls late and close situations, Goldschmidt batted just .187 with a .645 OPS. The Cardinals have other guys that can get on base; Goldschmidt’s job is to drive them in. With Marcell Ozuna headed to Atlanta, the Cardinals have lost one of their biggest bats, so Goldschmidt may have to carry even more of the burden.

If there’s good news, it’s that Goldschmidt had a great July in 2019, posting a 1.085 OPS. Hopefully, for St. Louis, that can translate into a great start in this upcoming 60-game season.

The Cardinals figure to have a solid starting rotation, and they have solid players at several different positions. For them to be a really good team in 2020, they’ll have to get more production from Paul Goldschmidt than they got last year. We should be able to quickly see what they’ll get from him when the season starts.