Paul Goldschmidt homered Nolan Gorman in a late victory over the Yankees

street. Lewis – Cardinals senior star Paul Goldschmidt hit . 317 with 35 home runs and 115 RBI to win his first career MVP award in 2022.

One of the most memorable parts of winning the game’s biggest single prize for Goldschmidt? Winning an NL award the same season as Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge broke the MLS record for home runs with 62 while also winning the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

The mild-mannered, mild-mannered Goldschmidt rarely gets too excited, but he jumped at the chance to hit up and have lunch with the judge during the holiday season while they both lived in Florida. Goldschmidt said he made the three-hour drive from Jupiter, Florida, to Tampa to spend the day with the judge. Both won MVP awards in their respective leagues, but to hear Goldschmidt say it was like an excited kid learning from Judge and simply delighted to be in the company of the great.

“I’m just a huge fan of him, and he’s one of the best hitters on the planet, so I wanted to learn from him,” said Goldschmidt, whose Cardinals split a head with the Yankees on Saturday. 4 in the opening and losing 6-2 in the nightcap. “Judge is one of the best people around too, because everyone he has played with speaks volumes about him.

“I have a lot of respect for him, and he’s one of my favorite players,” added Goldschmidt, who hit three runs in the opening win Saturday and scored two singles on the night’s Cup. “He won the Player of the Year award, I think we all knew he was going to do that. It’s great to be associated with him winning that.” [in 2022]. It made winning MVP the same year as Judge that much more amazing from my point of view.”

The showdown between the MVP winners this weekend was spoiled with Judge remaining on the injured list with a sprained right toe. Without the 6-foot-7, 282-pound Judge, the Yankees lost a lot of offensive bravado last month. Even after routing the A’s, the Yankees averaged just 3.8 runs per game in June – 29th in the MLB.

All-Star acquaintances before their last season, Goldschmidt and Judge spoke extensively for the first time at the awards banquet in New York, where their MVP awards were presented. It was then that they first discussed meeting one day during the winter to talk strikes and work together. This idea might not have gone anywhere had persistent Goldschmidt not sent a letter to the judge over and over again this past January.

Goldschmidt said, “I kind of bugging him until he let me come to Tampa and hit it off with him for a day. He was great.”

When the two players who refereed the game got together, they smashed baseballs into the batting cage for a few hours and talked about their approach against different pitchers. They also discussed their strategies at the plate with two hits because Judge was looking to whittle away 175 strikeouts in 2022. On the other hand, Judge also led baseball in 2022 in two hits (21), while Goldschmidt was third with 14 long runs. This season, Judge has nine penalty kicks and Goldschmidt eight.

Specifically, the judge picked up on Goldschmidt’s mind about the painting’s no-step approach. Often when he’s behind on the count, Goldschmidt prefers to limit his movements in the box and focus on trying to drive the ball the other way. Judge worked with Goldschmidt on using a no-step approach—something he experimented with early in the season before abandoning the tactic.

“In the batting cage, during the offseason, it felt good,” Judge told MLB.com’s Brian Hoch and other media earlier this season. “But when you’re faced with shooters and situations, things change a little bit. So, I guess I’ll stick with what I’ve got.”

This made perfect sense to Goldschmidt, who said he’d texted Judge several times throughout this season to discuss batting and life outside of baseball. In Goldschmidt’s view, Judge is so prodigiously talented that it would be wise to stick with what he was doing last season while he smashed 62 homers.

“He’s a five-tool player, he played center and right field and some of the plays he made are unbelievable,” Goldschmidt said. “He almost won the triple crown and batting title last season. He was about to have the best offensive season in the history of the game. He has all the things you want a player to be, and you want kids to try and emulate.”