Ex-Cardinals Star’s Hot Start Put Him In Yankees’ Record Books

The St. Louis Cardinals opted to move on from Paul Goldschmidt this past offseason and likely couldn’t have predicted how he would start this season.

St. Louis moved Willson Contreras to first base and Goldschmidt landed a one-year deal with the New York Yankees. He’s been phenomenal to kick of the 2025 season and after another big game on Friday is slashing .373/.415/.480 with one home run, six RBIs, five doubles, and is leading the league with 28 base hits in 20 games.

He became just the fourth player in Yankees history to have a .370 batting average or higher in 75 at-bats across his first 20 games with New York, as shared by Stathead's Katie Sharp.

"Yankees with at least .370 BA and 75 AB in first 20 games with Yankees: Paul Goldschmidt (2025), Bobby Abreu (2006), Joe DiMaggio (1936), and Whitey Witt (1922)," Sharp said.

Now, how about that? Goldschmidt struggled to kick off the 2024 season but turned things around in the second half. He finished the 2024 season with a slash line of .245/.302/.414 with 22 home runs, 65 RBIs, and 33 doubles.

In comparison, last year he was slashing .173/.279/.213 with one home run and eight RBIs for the Cardinals in his first 20 games. There's no way to know how things would've worked out if he had stayed in St. Louis but there's no way to predict. Good for him and hopefully it continues.