How Hunter Goodman, who can hit the ball ‘anywhere,’ is launching the Rockies into their next era

DENVER —  To understand Hunter Goodman — the home-run hitting, trade-deadline surviving, Colorado Rockies All-Star — maybe start in Tennessee, where he grew up.

Maybe start with the juggling club.

Goodman developed into a dominant all-around athlete in Arlington, Tenn., located about 30 miles from Memphis. While baseball, football and basketball were staples of his calendar, he was also part of the Arlington Elementary School juggling team, which performed at Grizzlies and Memphis Tigers games and featured a lineup packed with future stars.

“Yeah. Did a little bit of juggling,” said Goodman, whose juggling club teammates included Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan and Tyler Gentry, an outfielder in the minors. “Wasn’t the best, but I tried.”

Maybe don’t start with the juggling club then. Maybe it is fine to start in the present, with Goodman draped in the purple faux fur coat, which the Rockies wear to celebrate home runs. This year, Goodman’s home run tally keeps climbing — 36 going into Thursday — even away from his hitter-friendly home ballpark. This year, too, he has weathered a gloomy trade deadline in Denver, leaving him as both part of Colorado’s present and future.

A left shoulder strain put Goodman’s power surge on hold — first by affecting his swing, then prompting a trip to the injured list. Upon his return Tuesday, though, he made an immediate impact. Goodman homered at Nationals Park in Washington to keep his numbers climbing. Then, he did it again on Wednesday.

NUMBER 3⃣6⃣ pic.twitter.com/01u9F5QftR

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 27, 2026

“He can hit the ball anywhere,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said earlier this month.

Here’s how that happened.

On the diamond, Goodman’s story starts in Tennessee. Although he hit over .400 as a freshman for Arlington High School, his big swings rarely resulted in home runs.

“Believe it or not, he was kind of the opposite of what you see now,” Arlington assistant coach Michael Thees said. “What you see now is you see him hit a lot of home runs to left field, he’s got tremendous power to left field. We saw that in him, but the timing in high school, most of the balls he hit were center or right center.”

Lightly recruited during high school, Goodman played his college ball at nearby Memphis, where he emerged as an offensive force as a freshman, with 13 home runs and a .326 batting average. His best years, though, came over the next two seasons, hitting eight home runs in 17 games in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, then tallied 21 in 2021. Against Western Illinois in 2021, he had grand slams in all three games and drove in 22 runs in the series.

“Baseball is a game of failure, but he succeeded a lot,” Memphis associate head coach Russ McNickle recalled. “When Hunter got in the box, those guys are on the rail, pulling for him.”

That put him on MLB clubs’ radars, prompting Goodman and McNickle, a former catcher himself, to discuss a path to the majors.

Hunter Goodman returned from the injured list on Tuesday. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

“The bat was going to get him to the big leagues, but from a position standpoint, (catcher) is going to be your best bet of getting there quicker,” McNickle said. “He loved playing back there, because he was involved in everything. He was a guy who wasn’t good if he just DH-ed or played a different position. He was better when he was involved in every pitch, every play.”

Goodman also split time between designated hitter and the outfield as a freshman. In the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he shifted to behind the plate, and McNickle empowered him to call pitches and have more autonomy.

“They were cool enough to let me call my own pitches, so I got to learn,” Goodman said. “You grow through failure and learn how to call a game or read some swings. I know where college baseball is today, where not a lot of catchers get the opportunity to do that.”

The Rockies selected Goodman in the fourth round of the 2021 MLB Draft, and after a combined 70 home runs between 2022 and 2023, he debuted for Colorado in 2023 and split time between the majors and minors in 2024.

In 2025, the Rockies made Goodman their full-time catcher, and he rewarded Colorado with an All-Star campaign and 31 home runs. In a historically awful Rockies season that included a franchise-worst 119 losses, Goodman was a rare bright spot.

His ascension has continued into 2026.

With 36 homers, Goodman trails Kyle Schwarber and Matt Olson for most in the National League. After hitting 13 in June, Goodman hoped to participate in the Home Run Derby — and even brought his dad to Colorado to throw batting practice — but he did not receive an invite. While Coors Field is known for its batter-friendly altitude, he has mashed the majority of his homers away from Denver. Goodman’s home runs have helped mitigate his high strikeout rate — a downside of his aggressive approach — and defensive limitations.

At 26, Goodman has emerged as a leader by example and a beloved teammate in the Rockies’ clubhouse. Those characteristics have also emerged at his previous stops.

“He’s not super vocal as a teammate, but he is very silently competitive,” said Gentry, who was Goodman’s teammate from both his elementary school juggling and high school baseball squads. “You can definitely see it in his eyes, and he hates to fail as much as anyone from what I remember. You love seeing that, especially from one of your best hitters.”

This has not been an easy season in Denver, where Goodman was at the center of trade deadline talks this August. Still, as that deadline approached, he appeared focused on what he does best: blasting homers.

Take, for example, a warm summer evening at the start of August, when the Colorado catcher stepped to the plate in the third, with his Rockies trailing the Kansas City Royals. He sent Luinder Avila’s slider well over the left-field wall for a three-run homer. Four innings later, he drove a low pitch from reliever Alex Lange 424 feet to the same location for his sixth multi-homer game this season. He finished the night 4-for-5 as the Rockies rolled to a 12-6 win.

Goodman’s performance helped achieve two noteworthy feats. With the victory, the Rockies surpassed their win total from 2025. Also, Goodman broke the Rockies’ single-season record for home runs by a catcher … which he set in 2025.

“Baseball is a game of failure, but he succeeded a lot,” Memphis associate head coach Russ McNickle said of Hunter Goodman. “When Hunter got in the box, those guys are on the rail, pulling for him.” (Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)

He did all this on Aug. 1, with the MLB trade deadline looming. Colorado acting as a seller was never really in doubt. What was in question: Would Goodman finish the rest of 2026 in Denver, or elsewhere for a playoff contender?

Days later, the answer from the Rockies’ new-look front office became clear. Colorado turned down their suitors for Goodman, moving forward in its rebuild and uncertain future, with its star catcher at the forefront.

“We had a set price in mind of what it would take to acquire any of our players. We think we have a lot of good players here,” Paul DePodesta, the Rockies’ president of baseball operations, told reporters after the deadline. “We think we have the foundation of something that has the chance to be pretty good. With that, it was going to take a lot to pry any of those pieces away. I don’t think we got particularly close on any of those players because I think our internal price was going to be higher than what the market would bear.”

The Rockies sent two well-established members of their club elsewhere, trading pitcher Antonio Senzatela to Milwaukee and two-time Gold Glove-winner Brenton Doyle to the White Sox. Colorado also moved reliever Victor Vodnik to Miami for first baseman Connor Norby and prospect Aidan May. But Colorado retained Goodman, as well as outfielders Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy. Goodman, who had ranked sixth on The Athletic’s final trade deadline Big Board, has three years of club control remaining.

“I’m excited about it,” Goodman said. “We’re making a lot of improvements. We’re headed in the right direction. I really want to be a part of turning this thing around and getting back to the playoffs.”