Paul Goldschmidt Is Showing the Yankees Are Fine Without Giancarlo Stanton
Louis Varland is the best closer in baseball. Coming into the second game of this weekend's series between the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees, he had only given up two earned runs for the entire season. He is sporting a ridiculous 1.6 WAR, according to Fangraphs, despite only pitching a few innings a week. Even still, with a wild 49-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio, he was conquered by veteran Paul Goldschmidt, who many felt should not have even re-signed last winter.
Gold-Blooded. #RepBXpic.twitter.com/niVFSVPsll
- New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 13, 2026
The heater Paul Goldschmidt is on could not have come at a better time, too. When the news that Giancarlo Stanton had a setback in his rehab hit, it felt devastating. That Blue Jays series was here, and the reinforcements everybody thought were on the way would have to wait. Thankfully, Goldschmidt has taken it upon himself to let everybody know that he has things handled for now.
The Yankees last saw Giancarlo Stanton on April 24th. He was having a down year by his standards.
With just three home runs on the year to that point, he was hitting .256/.302/.422 with a 101 wRC+. Since then, Goldschmidt has looked like the Goldy who donned the crimson red of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Goldschmidt by the numbers
Goldschmidt has hit .315/.376/.567 with a 161 wRC+. He has eight homers and 19 RBI. Not only has he stepped in for Stanton, but he looked better than the prospective Hall of Famer in 2026.
What makes the Goldschmidt run that much more amazing is that his underlying numbers match what he has done on the back of his baseball card. Funny enough, he isn't even hitting the ball hard. Despite a 23rd percentile 87.4 mph average exit velocity and a 46th percentile hard hit rate, per Baseball Savant, his ability to get his barrel to the ball has been one of the best in the league.
Goldschmidt has a 74th-percentile barrel rate and a 79th-percentile 38% launch angle sweet-spot rate. These go along with an 85th-percentile xw0BA, 83rd-percentile .279 xBA, and 88th-percentile .501 xSLG.
On top of that, Goldschmidt can still hack it at first base. It's something that the veteran Anthony Rizzo lost at the end of his career while he donned the pinstripes, but Goldschmidt has not.
While Goldschmidt has a -1 Defensive Runs Saved, he is a 1 Out Above Average defender at the position. That's a big upgrade from where he was in 2025 by OAA's standards. Last year with the Yankees, he had a -3 OAA.
Goldy vs. Varland
Before that at-bat with Louis Varland, the veteran mentioned he had runs on his mind. It turns out Goldschmidt manifested that homer.
"I'm definitely not up there guessing; I was just trying to be ready to hit," Goldschmidt said, according to MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. "I joked in my head before that at-bat, 'He hasn't given up a run in forever. Maybe today will be the day.' Fortunately, I was able to get him."
Not bad for a guy making all of $4 million this year. Goldschmidt was one of the great thrift grabs of the winter, and now his second act in pinstripes is going better than the first.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/yankees/onsi as Paul Goldschmidt Is Showing the Yankees Are Fine Without Giancarlo Stanton.
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This story was originally published June 14, 2026 at 7:00 AM.