Throwback Thursday: Paul Goldschmidt’s journey to the Arizona Diamondbacks

On Wednesday night, Paul Goldschmidt became the second player in Arizona Diamondbacks history to reach 1,000 career hits

While Paul Goldschmidt remained his humble self in the post-game conference and chose not to focus on the milestone, let’s revisit how Goldy journeyed to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

For starters, things could be very, very different. In 2006, the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted Goldschmidt in the 49th round of the MLB draft.

Goldschmidt would look mighty different in Dodger blue, but thankfully he chose not to sign and opted to go to Texas State instead.

Three years later, in the 2009 draft, Goldschmidt was selected in the eighth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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Before he was a five-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glover and a two-time Silver Slugger, Goldschmidt was a 21-year-old draft pick.

As one could imagine, Goldy didn’t stay down for long. Goldy only actually spent one full year in the Minor Leagues – he finished his draft season with the rookie-level Missoula Osprey.

America’s future first baseman picked up 96 hits, 18 home runs and 62 RBI’s in 74 games.

Goldschmidt spent one full year, in 2010, with the Class A-Advanced Visalia Rawhide. It was his first season with 30+ homeruns (35 total) and over 100 RBI’s (108 to be exact). He quickly set the pace which he has closely followed for most of his career.

Which is why it came as no surprise that he was brought up in August of 2011, skipping from the Double-A Mobile Baybears to the big leagues.

On August 1, 2011, Paul Goldschmidt donned his now infamous No. 44 jersey for the first time with the Diamondbacks. He also earned his first hit in four at-bats against the San Francisco Giants.

Since then, Goldschmidt has averaged 160 hits per season, including 43 doubles, 28 home runs and 99 RBI’s.

His collection of his 1,000th hit was just another at-bat to him, an aterisk on a game that his team needed to win. As he is always humble, may he also always be a Diamondback.

"Arizona Diamondbacks: J.D. Martinez credits Paul Goldschmidt’s game IQ"

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