The St. Louis Cardinals’ campaign ended in the Wild Card Round at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies, but that didn’t stop the Baseball Writers’ Association of America from naming Paul Goldschmidt as National League MVP for the 2022 season.
To win the prize for the best player in the Old Circuit, Goldschmidt received 22 first-place votes and eight second-place votes.. Manny Machado of the San Diego Padres received seven No. 1 votes and Goldschmidt’s teammate Nolan Arenado received the last of 30 votes.
The Cardinals first baseman was a defensive certainty of the team that won the NL Central title and earned their fourth Gold Glove. Goldschmidt, 35, also proved once again that he can be a standout hitter by getting the fifth silver slugger of his career, since he led the National League in slugging percentage and OPS with .578 and .981, respectively.
Despite having a dip in September, the Texas State graduate posted averages of .317/.404/.982 after accumulating 178 hits, driving in 1,145 runs and adding 35 home runs in 561 at bats. In addition, the veteran stole seven bases and received 79 walks to first base,
Goldschmidt is the Cardinals’ first MVP since Albert Pujols won the award in 2009. In addition, the St. Louis player was a Hank Aaron Award winner.
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35 or more
According to ESPN’s statistics service, Goldschmidt became the fifth player to win his first MVP at the age of 35 or older. The first four were Dennis eckersley (1992), Willie Stargerll (1979), Hank Saur (1952) and Spud chandler (1943).