Struggling Goldschmidt hopes to turn season around: 'I want to play better'

St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is in the midst of a career-worst campaign, but he remains hopeful he can turn things around.

"I want to play better and I haven't done that," Goldschmidt said, according to MLB.com’s John Denton.

"That's the moral of the story – I just haven't played well this whole year and it's cost us some games at times. No one hates it more than me. I haven't done a good enough job of that, but I'll continue to work to make adjustments that might help us win."

Goldschmidt is hitting .225/.287/.372, marking the lowest OPS (.658) of his career. He's struggled significantly with runners in scoring position, hitting just .169 with two extra-base hits and 30 strikeouts, and he's walked in just 7.4% of his at-bats. The seven-time All-Star has barely played above replacement level this season, amassing 0.1 fWAR, which is better than just six other qualified first basemen in MLB.

The 36-year-old was moved to seventh in the Cardinals batting order for Sunday's game against the Atlanta Braves, and he hit his 14th home run of the season during St. Louis' 6-2 win. The round-tripper was the highlight of another tough outing for the 2022 NL MVP, who also acknowledged the issues in his other plate appearances.

"I mean that was obviously nice to hit a home run, but I also struck out twice and hit into a double play," Goldschmidt said. "Obviously, I haven't played well this year and I'm trying to do everything I can to play better."

Despite subpar performances from Goldschmidt and fellow slugger Nolan Arenado, the Cardinals are five games above .500 and own the second NL wild-card position.