DENVER – Just before a late-season game at Coors Field, Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman was happy to discuss his mind rather than his bat.
Goodman was the game’s best run-producing catcher in 2026. He led National League primary catchers (50% of games played at catcher) in home runs (41) and total bases (274). His 25 road homers broke Johnny Bench’s 1972 NL record (24). Goodman’s name likely will be called when NL Silver Slugger finalists are announced on Thursday.
Fighting through the pain and fatigue that comes with catching, Goodman was a key reason the Rockies – while going 58-104 to post the Majors’ worst record for the second straight year – measurably improved offensively. They finished in the top 10 in the Majors in extra-base hits (third, 502), batting (fourth, .254), OPS (fifth, .739) and runs (seventh, 752) after finishing in the bottom 10 in every category in 2025.
Goodman, 27, is looking to the margins to try to help his pitching staff turn around a pitch here and there. That could make a difference for a staff that was the Majors’ worst statistically – and change the result of games.
“The whole pitching staff and us as catchers need to take a step forward,” said Goodman, who has a .903 OPS in 215 career games as a catcher, which outstrips his most frequent other position, designated hitter (.665 in 92 games). “Some of the game-calling stuff needs to improve on my side.
“At the same time, we have the most difficult challenge as a pitching staff in the whole league. So it could be a little longer to see the improvement there. We’ve done trial and error, different things, trying to figure out what’s the best way to approach it.”
Toward that end, the Rockies parted ways with pitching coach Alon Leichman after one season and on Monday hired Ethan Katz – the White Sox pitching coach from 2021-25 and the assistant pitching coach with the Astros last season.
Goodman was already thinking about his role.
Last season, Leichman brought the idea of signaling pitches from the dugout to the Rockies – a strategy he had employed with the Marlins as assistant pitching coach. Some experienced pitchers abandoned the move early, and hurlers had varying strategies. Leichman flashed signals from the dugout throughout the season, whether for effect or as suggestions to those on the field.
To hear Goodman tell it late last season, he was most comfortable working strictly with the pitcher.
“We still have some guys that use the pitch-calling stuff,” Goodman said during the season’s final days. “But for the most part, I’ve called most of the game. I just have a feel for the game back there. Some of the stuff, you just can’t see from the dugout.”
Goodman has always been considered good at blocking pitches in the dirt. His throwing, once a liability, improved and is on the upswing. In the first year of the ABS challenge system, Goodman finished tied for fourth among MLB catchers in overturning balls to strikes (plus-24) and fourth in number of reversed calls (77 out of 113 challenges).
Goodman was drafted in the fourth round out of the University of Memphis in the 2021 MLB Draft, and he was placed on the fast track to the Majors because of his bat. He arrived quickly, in 2023. But Goodman also took a circuitous route positionally, since playing outfield and a little first base allowed him to be plugged in where the Rockies needed him.
Goodman was impressive enough behind the plate in Spring Training of 2025 that then-manager Bud Black and then-bench coach and catching instructor Mike Redmond committed to him as a full-time catcher. He is still young at the job.
The strategy and leadership piece is every bit as important as the measurables.
“His best [offensive] numbers come when he’s catching – and he’s built like a tank, so he can withstand it [physically], and he’s got the mentality for it,” manager Warren Schaeffer said. “That’s another thing we need to pour into the catchers next year – to call games, to run the staff meeting, because these guys [Goodman and Brett Sullivan] can do it.
“When you hear him speak in meetings behind closed doors about how we attack guys on the other team, it’s special. For a long time, he got a bad rap as a below-the-[average]-line catcher because he hit so well. That’s not true for me.”
On Sept. 23 against the Diamondbacks, Goodman and callup Mason Adams (the Rockies’ No. 19 prospect per MLB Pipeline) didn’t need anyone else’s input. In his sixth career start, the 26-year-old right-hander struck out eight in six innings.
“We had a rhythm going, and it was a really well-pitched game by him,” Goodman said of Adams, who bounced back after allowing four unearned first-inning runs to yield no further scoring. “Going forward, I would like to call pitches. I feel you see the game, get involved in the game.
“In the first month or two of the season, I didn’t really create a relationship with the pitchers. We lost a little bit of that early in the season. But we got some of that back in the back half of the year.”
With Goodman’s improving skills and rare run production for a catcher, the relationships have a chance to grow into winning ones.