Good as Gold

Paul Goldschmidt (NYY): 2-4, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB.

Goldschmidt jump-started last night’s game in the Bronx by sending Patrick Corbin’s first pitch screaming into the seats just to the right of the Yankee bullpen. He tormented Corbin again in the fifth with a long double to center. Fine, on paper, it was the perfect matchup for Goldy to take advantage of, considering he cranked out a 192 wRC+ against left-handers last season.

As a 38-year-old who entered the season with a 102 wRC+ over his previous 1,188 PAs, it felt like Goldy didn’t have much left, at least with his bat. He seemed ticketed for the short side of a platoon. Now, one of the oldest active position players, whom most, myself included, didn’t think had a chance to be fantasy relevant, is slashing a cool .290/.395/.609 with five home runs across 81 PAs. And, unlike last year, he’s holding his own against same-handed pitching with a 117 wRC+.

Stanton’s absence has perhaps afforded him a chance to have one last hoorah while squeezing Spencer Jones out of the picture. Everything under the hood looks good. His 22.1% K rate and 10.5% BB rate look good. As do his PLV metrics. His 127 Power is nearly two standard deviations above league average. Not too shabby. His 133 Process, PLV’s all-encompassing hitting metric, is similarly off the charts. Goldy’s playing time remains limited; he hasn’t started against a righty since May 6th (Eovaldi). Regardless, if you’re searching for a CI in a deep league, you might want to put the future Hall of Famer on your watch list.

Let’s see how the other hitters did Monday:

Carson Benge (NYM): 3-6, 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB.

This game was wild as the Mets and Nats combined for 23 runs on 30 hits. Benge started very slowly, but he has hit leadoff in each of the Mets’ past seven games. For the most part, I don’t pay attention to hot/cold streaks. However, I find myself nodding my head in approval, seeing a 23-year-old rookie who might just be finding his stroke with five multi-hit efforts during this run at leadoff. Overall, he’s hitting .253 with a .673 OPS, three homers, and eight steals.

Josh Bell (MIN): 3-4, 2 HR, 2 R, 4 RBI.

Bell torched Tatsuya Imai twice; the first came on a changeup to deep center, and the second was an oppo shot on a fastball. Unlike today’s lead hitter, Goldschmidt, Bell has a seemingly more secure role. However, his .222/.286/.361 slash is nowhere near as interesting. And in case you are wondering, no, his PLV metrics aren’t either.

Yandy Díaz (TBR): 4-5, 2 2B, 4 R, 4 RBI.

You have my sympathies if you happened to start Trevor Rogers last night. Yandy’s 96 Power, which is a few ticks below the league average, suggests that we probably shouldn’t expect a repeat of last year’s career-high 25 home runs. However, his 112 DV and 110 Contact support his .310 average and .387 OBP. Yep, that’s classic Yandy.

Justin Foscue (TEX): 3-3, 2 2B, HR, R, 3 RBI, BB.

The 14th overall pick out of Mississippi State six summers ago, Foscue has started each of the past four games for Texas, all of them at second base. The highlight of last night’s perfect game at Coors Field came in the fifth with a soaring drive to center off Quintana. The 27-year-old righty slashed .261/.341/.474 across 453 PAs with Triple-A Round Rock last season and has just 75 PAs in the bigs. He kinda feels like the prototypical Quad-A hitter, but maybe keep an eye on him in AL-only leagues.

Jake Bauers (MIL): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 4 RBI.

It seems like only yesterday that Bauers had me infatuated during his days as a prospect with the Rays. Where has time gone!? Anyways, the lefty barreled a slider from Imanaga that hung in his happy zone, down and in. He’s hitting .288 with a .872 OPS. And he’s more than halfway to matching his career-high of a dozen home runs, which he has reached three times, most recently two years ago. I’m intrigued by his career-low 21.9% K rate, but at the same time, I just can’t convince myself that he’s anything more than a platoon bat. This one came against a lefty. I know, but still!

Ryan Waldschmidt (ARI): 3-3, 2 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB, 2 SB.

Goldschmidt and Waldschmidt in the same Batter’s Box. What a time to be alive. Arizona’s top prospect via Pipeline, Waldy earned the call after slashing .289/.400/.477 with three home runs and six stolen bases across 156 PAs with Triple-A Reno. He stole 29 bases in 2025, so his speed is nothing new. After all of 35 PAs, it’s impossible to say what kind of big-league hitter he can be, but so far we are looking at an .809 OPS with a 25.8% K rate that’s about three ticks above the league average.

Colt Emerson (SEA): 1-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.

Well, that didn’t take long. After going hitless during his debut Sunday, Emerson pocketed his first career hit last night by going yard on a 2-2 changeup from righty reliever Trevor Richards with two down in the bottom of the eighth. The 20-year-old lefty slashed .255/.347/.469 with seven home runs and ten steals across 169 PAs with Triple-A Tacoma before the promotion and will get everyday run as Seattle’s starting third baseman.

Andrew Vaughn (MIL): 2-3, 2B, 2 R, BB.

Vaughn hit fifth last night and has started all but three games since the Brewers reinstated him from the IL on May 4th (left hamate fracture). A busted former top prospect with the White Sox, Vaughn found a second wind last year by slashing  .308/.375/.493 across 254 PAs with the Brew Crew. His PLV metrics last year, including a 113 Power and a 120 Process, were impressive, too.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. (NYY): 2-4, HR, R, 2 RBI.

Chisholm broke a 5-5 tie in the home half of the seventh by sending a 2-1 slider from Yariel Rodriguez on a 339-foot flight to the left field foul pole. The 28-year-old lefty is slashing .237/.316/.379, all career lows excluding his cup of coffee in 2020. He seems like a clear-cut buy-low based on what he did last year. However, his bottom fifth-percentile xBA, 50.4% pull rate, and 92 Power don’t paint the prettiest-looking picture, either.

Gabriel Moreno (ARI): 2-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.

The 26-year-old backstop capped last night’s blowout in the desert with a two-run jolt against Robbie Ray in the fifth inning. Moreno is slashing .264/.313/.414 this year, although the picture was occluded by a three-week stint on the IL with a strained oblique. His 111 Power and 110 Contact form a pretty interesting combination, suggesting that we probably haven’t seen his best yet.

Featured image by Aaron Polcare (@abeardoesart on Bluesky and X) and adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter/X; @justinparadis.bsky.social on BlueSky)