Hunter Goodman is quietly putting together one of the best offensive seasons by any catcher in MLB, and he’s doing it in the wake of the worst team in baseball.
Despite a rare 3-game win streak combined against the Nationals and Giants, the Rockies are still on pace to finish the season as the worst team in MLB Modern Era. If you’ve watched even a small handful of games this year you probably already know the offense has been a major factor in that.
The Rockies rank 27th in BA, 27th in Runs, 29th in OBP, and 21st in HRs. That combination makes for some downright bad baseball. And despite scoring 5+ runs in 6 of their last 8 games the Rockies offense still averages a measly 3.49 runs per game. That is also 27th in baseball.
When you think of the 2025 Rockies, odds are you don’t think of star power. Without Charlie Blackmon to gather some cheers from fans at Coors Field, the roster is downright unrecognizable to the casual viewer. In a random poll conducted with 10 different Rockies fans (had to be wearing Rockies gear of some sort) at Coors Field, none were able to name a current player on the active roster.
I don’t blame the fans for their apathy. This has been a trying season, even for the hardiest of diehards. It feels like every time we’ve gotten our hopes up throughout the last 6 years something has gone awry.
Nolan Jones put up incredible rookie numbers in 2023, just to fall apart in his sophomore season and end up getting traded away for Tyler Freeman. Antonio Senzatela and German Marquez return from injury after missing an entire season, only to each post a 6.00+ ERA and look significantly downgraded from their prime. The Rockies defense had 3 Gold Glove nominations in 2024 (2 Gold Glove winners), only to become one of the worst defensive teams in all of baseball in 2025. The list goes on.
As I’ve been saying for months now, it feels like anything that can go wrong with the Rockies, will go wrong. Just once, fans need a win. A superstar in the making. Someone who can make it fun to watch Rockies baseball again. And I believe, for the first time in a long time, we might have found that guy.
You can’t really say that Hunter Goodman “burst onto the scene” because if we’re being honest, I think most of baseball still doesn’t know who this kid is. But if we put the anti-Rockies bias aside for a moment, Hunter Goodman is putting up some crazy numbers.
In just his first season ever as a full-time catcher, Goodman is absolutely raking. The stats back it up.
Goodman is leading all catchers in hits (76) and triples (3). He also leads all National League catchers in home runs (13), RBIs (43), SLUG % (.517), Runs (37), and Total Bases (137).
The guy is not only just a great catcher for the Rockies, he’s literally one of the best catchers in all of baseball right now.
I find myself frequently asking this question: If you take all of the players on the Rockies roster and put them on other relatively competitive teams– like the Phillies, Giants, Brewers, Mets, etc., would they be starters? For most, the answer is no. For Goodman, the answer is an easy yes.
His defensive ability is still a work in progress. Remember, this is just his first season ever catching full-time. But whether he’s an elite defensive catcher or not, his offensive stats are enough for any manager in baseball to find a spot for him on their roster.
It feels like Goodman is crushing a home run nearly every night. And if he’s not hitting home runs, he’s finding ways to get on base. We do this segment on our DNVR Rockies podcast called ‘Circle of Trust’. Goodman has been in the Circle of Trust since day one. The same can’t be said for anyone else on the team offensively.
I hesitate to get my hopes up, because of the aforementioned struggles from these past 6 years, but Goodman continues to prove himself day-in and day-out. So much so, that DNVR’s very own Justin Michael, a beleaguered lifelong Rockies fan, even said this in his newsletter: “I mentioned him yesterday but Hunter Goodman is the first Rockies player to excite me in the post-Arenado world.”
Not saying that Hunter Goodman is on pace to somehow replace the excitement and hype that Nolan Arenado brought to the Rockies, but for now, it is just incredibly refreshing to have a guy you know will put on a show when he shows up to the ballpark.
Rockies fans, if there’s one reason to watch Rockies baseball this season, let it be Hunter Goodman.
