Paul Goldschmidt is one of the best baseball players of the past 25 years, and has a chance to be a Hall of Famer.

But 2024 is not his year.

The St. Louis Cardinals are in unprecedented territory. The team went 71-91 last season to finish below .500 for the first time in a full season since 2007. It was their worst record in a 162-game season since 1990.

They’ve started this season 15-24, and the offense ranks near the bottom of the league in most statistical categories. Perhaps the biggest disappointment offensively has been Goldschmidt, who is currently 1-32 in his last 33 at-bats. He has hit only two home runs on the season with 11 RBI’s and 47 strikeouts.

Entering Saturday’s game, Goldschmidt also had some of the following stats (for you analytic fans out there)

• .255 OBA
• 4.7% barrel rate (abysmal)
• 10.1% walk rate
• 44.7% swing and miss rate

Two years ago, “Goldy” was the National League MVP.

Instead of leading in strikeouts, he led the NL in OPS (.981) and slugging (.578) and finished in the NL’s top five in WAR (7.8, second), on-base percentage (.404, second), batting average (.317, third), home runs (35, fifth) and RBIs (115, second) in his 12th big league season.

Capturing the NL MVP allowed Goldschmidt to pull off a clean sweep of some of the game’s top honors. He was already the winner of the NL’s Hank Aaron, Silver Slugger, MLBPA’s Most Outstanding Player and the MLB Retired Players Association’s Heart & Hustle awards, and Goldschmidt easily outdistanced the field in the MVP balloting, as voted on by two BBWAA members in each NL city.

His production dipped in 2023, but after such a hot season, it was expected. Still, the Cardinals finished 20 games under .500, something that was unexpected. And 1 1/2 months into 2024’s campaign, it looks even worse.

And I know, technically it is still relatively early in the season and you have to imagine Goldschmidt will get it together as the year goes on, even at age 36. After all, he is a future Hall of Famer. A multi-time All Star and Gold Glove Award winner. And a leader in the locker room. He has to be able to break out of his slump right? Or at least we can hope.

Because, if not, he might not be in a Cardinal uniform much longer, either.