How good is Hunter Goodman?

Is he picking up in 2026 where he left off in 2025?

Hunter Goodman (Photo from Colorado Rockies Instagram)

Without question, Hunter Goodman was the best player and a bright spot on a very bad 2025 Colorado Rockies team. Although his addition to the National League All-Star Team might have been required given that every time, no matter how bad, gets a representative, his winning of a Silver Slugger indicates he’s the real deal.

There were questions as to whether last year was a flash or the indication of something real, so it’s worth taking a minute to assess where Goodman is now in terms of his performance in comparison to 2025 and other MLB catchers.

(An obvious caveat is that the 2025 numbers show a full year while the 2026 data measures a work in progress.)

Goodman’s offensive numbers

In 2025, Goodman finished his season slashing .278/.323/.520 with a 114 wRC+. He also hit 31 homers is 579 plate appearances. Add to that, he had a K% of 26.3% and a BB% of 5.7%. Also notable were his home-road splits. Goodman hit 18 homers on the road and 13 at home, so Coors did not have a significant effect on that part of his game. However, when considering his overall numbers, he was roughly the same wherever he played: .307/.356/.526 (116 wRC+) at Coors and .248/.356/.515 (118 wRC+) on the road.

In other words, Goodman’s AVG and OBP were better at Coors while his SLG stayed roughly the same.

TLDR: On the offensive side, 2025 Hunter Goodman was not a Coors creation.

Now consider the numbers so far with the season just over one one-third finished.

In 239 plate appearances, Goodman is slashing .244/.314/.502 (113 wRC+), so he’s down just a bit. However, he’s already hit 15 home runs, so he’s on track to surpass that number from 2025.

As for his BB%, it’s 7.5% while his K% is 33.9%, a significant increase (though that seems to have settled down a bit over the last week.)

In terms of his home-road splits, at Coors, he’s slashing .244/.314/.502 (64 wRC+ — you read that correctly) while on the road, Goodman is .274/.338/.581 (153 wRC+). So he has been significantly better away from Coors Field. As for home runs, he’s hit just four in Denver and 11 on the road.

At this point, Goodman appears to be settling into another outstanding season. Mickey Moniak remains the Rockies best hitter — or at least he was prior to going in the IL — but Goodman is close behind him.

Goodman’s offensive numbers compared to other catchers

Given that he won a Silver Slugger last season, I was curious as to how his offensive numbers compared to those of his peers.

When compared to all other catchers, Goodman ranks fourth in terms of fWAR. (Ahead of him are Dillon Dingler, 2.8 fWAR; Adley Rutschman, 2.0 fWAR; and Shea Langeliers, 2.0 fWAR.) However, in terms of fWAR, he leads all NL catchers.

He is tied with Langeliers in terms of home runs, which leads all catchers as do his four stolen bases. (Gabriel Moreno of the Arizona Diamondbacks is next with three.) He also has the highest SLG among catchers with more than 100 plate appearances.

All of that is a long way of saying the Hunter Goodman’s offensive numbers remain solid — and will improve if he can stop chasing so much — and that he remains on track to repeat as a finalist for the NL Silver Slugger.

Goodman’s defensive numbers

In 2025, Goodman was not an especially effective defensive catcher. In 841.1 innings behind the plate, he had -3 DRS, an FRV of 1, and a FP of .987. In other words, he was fine, but the bat more than made up for it.

Goodman said during the offseason that he had worked hard on the defensive side of his game, and the initial results are promising. In 354.2 innings caught, he has 3 DRS, an FRV of 1, and a .984 FP.

Granted, defensive metrics have their issues, but Goodman appears to have improved defensively. Only Dillion Dingler has more DRS (4) while Goodman is tied with JT Realmuto and Austin Wells. Overall, he is ranked fourth, which suggests Goodman may be on the path to becoming an elite catcher.

Goodman’s ABS Challenge numbers

That brings us to Goodman’s success with the ABS Challenge system, which Statcast tracks. (For the purposes of this column, I’m not going to get into pitch framing.)

Overall, he ranks third on Baseball Savant’s leader board (behind Dingler and Salvator Perez). Goodman has won 29 of the 43 challenges he has issued, which gives him a 67% success rate. Ten of those challenges have resulted in Ks. (Only Carson Kelly has more with 12.)

MLB is early in its analysis of this particular metric, but the initial results suggest that Goodman is an exceptional challenger. (Would that even be the correct term?)

Conclusions

Questions about whether Hunter Goodman could continue to develop into. an elite catcher, at this point in the season, should be answered with a resounding “yes.”

The K% is concerning, but most parts of Goodman’s game are on track to surpass what he accomplished in 2025 with the added bonus of him using the ABS Challenge system effectively.

Probably the next question is tje path president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta will choose for Goodman’s future.

Here’s Jeff Passan from Thursday discussing the Rockies as the trade deadline approaches.

Objective: Actually rebuild correctly this time.

Best player available: Antonio Senzatela, RP

What to know: There's plenty the Rockies can do under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta. They are years away from contending, and nobody on their roster is untouchable. Though Colorado has treated past deadlines as optional, DePodesta values value, and for Dick Monfort's meddlesome nature as owner, he has relented in recent years (and last deadline OK'd moving Ryan McMahon, whom he had previously instructed his baseball operations personnel not to trade).

All of this means that when Mickey Moniak's right ankle tendinitis abates, he'll be a power bat worth considering. And that for a team with a hole at catcher, Hunter Goodman could be had for a hefty return. And if someone asks about TJ Rumfield or Troy Johnston, it won't be an automatic no because of their long-term controllability. In the case of Senzatela -- who has gone from awful starter to one of the best relievers in baseball this season -- it's a no-brainer. He's a free agent after this season, and he's as good as gone. Others with some interest: utilityman Willi Castro, right-handed starter Tomoyuki Sugano, left-handed reliever Brennan Bernardino and right-handed reliever Jaden Hill.

“[F]or a team with a hole at catcher, Hunter Goodman could be had for a hefty return.”

It’s probably too soon to begin trade-deadline speculation. That said, in addition to his skills, Goodman does not become a free agent until 2030. If he continues to be as good this season as he has been, the Rockies front office may have to make a decision.

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