{"id":12830,"date":"2025-05-09T08:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/12830\/"},"modified":"2025-05-09T08:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:10:10","slug":"catcher-hunter-goodman-is-a-feel-good-story-for-historically-bad-rockies-sports-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/12830\/","title":{"rendered":"Catcher Hunter Goodman is a feel-good story for historically bad Rockies | Sports Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Need a silver lining amid the worst start in Rockies franchise history?<\/p>\n

Get to know Hunter Goodman.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Tennessee native emerged as the team\u2019s top catcher with consistent hitting and improvement behind the plate. Goodman concluded a home doubleheader Thursday against the Tigers with at least one hit in 19 of his last 22 games (since April 14). It coincides with Clint Hurdle taking over as Colorado\u2019s hitting coach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just staying within myself and trusting the plan that I have to start that day,\u201d Goodman told The Denver Gazette. \u201cWhen I struggle, I try to do more than I should. … My favorite thing is (Hurdle\u2019s) mentality that he wants us to have and the vibe that he brings. You go up there with a lot of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodman \u2014 a fourth-round draft pick (Memphis, 2021) \u2014 also touts power. His five homers this season are tied for the team lead with outfielder Jordan Beck.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kyle Freeland says it’s ‘personal’ with his hometown Rockies off to historically bad start<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAggressive mindset,\u201d manager Bud Black said earlier this week regarding Goodman. \u201cI think we\u2019ve seen incremental improvement in the chase. That was a big problem, especially early in the year. Now, it\u2019s sort of calmed down a little bit. … He\u2019s got bat speed. He can hit a fastball. He can hit a hanging breaking ball. The overall way that he\u2019s conducting the at-bat is getting better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodman\u2019s catching remains somewhat a work in progress. On Wednesday, he caught Tigers shortstop Trey Sweeney stealing and assisted on the putout at second base. On Thursday, Goodman failed to backstop a throw home for an error that led to a Detroit run scored.<\/p>\n

The Rockies are still pleased with his overall catching.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we put him through all the rigors of the outfield, first base and catcher. That\u2019s a lot for a young player as a rookie. This year, where we were team wise, we felt as though the best thing for Hunter and us was to concentrate solely on catching \u2014 which is his natural position,\u201d Black said. \u201cHe\u2019s done a fine job. He\u2019s getting better, which is a good thing. The game-calling part, last year we saw it was fine, solid. A good feel for that and a good feel for handling the pitching staff. In that regard, there\u2019s been a lot of positives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goodman made his MLB debut in 2023 before transitioning to his utility role a year ago. The young catcher continues growing. The Rockies (6-31) can use all the help they can get.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the Big Leagues. You get up here and you want to impress. You want to make a name for yourself and all that stuff,\u201d Goodman said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, it\u2019s still baseball. It\u2019s the game you\u2019ve played since you were little. Just go up there and be you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Your daily report on everything sports in Colorado – covering the Denver Broncos, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and columns from Woody Paige and Paul Klee.\n <\/p>\n

Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ex-Rockies outfielder Nolan Jones: ‘Surprised” at trade out of Colorado<\/a><\/p>\n

Game 1 \u2014 Tigers 10, Rockies 2<\/p>\n

What happened: Colorado got blown out in the first game of a doubleheader against Detroit at Coors Field.<\/p>\n

On the mound: Starting lefty Kyle Freeland got pulled with no outs in the fourth inning after he allowed nine runs (five earned) on 11 hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Relievers Angel Chivilli and Juan Mejia combined to give up one run. Colorado had three fielding errors in the game.<\/p>\n

At the plate: Shortstop Alan Trejo hit a sacrifice fly that scored designated hitter Nick Martini in the fifth. Catcher Hunter Goodman hit a sacrifice fly that scored outfielder Jordan Beck in the ninth.<\/p>\n

Game 2 \u2014 Tigers 11, Rockies 1<\/p>\n

What happened: Colorado got steamrolled again in the second game of a doubleheader against Detroit to get swept in their three-game series.<\/p>\n

On the mound: Starting right-hander Tanner Gordon gave up seven earned runs on 10 hits over 6 \u2153 innings. Reliever Tyler Kinley struggled in relief allowing four earned runs over just 1 \u2153 innings.<\/p>\n

At the plate: Infielder Owen Miller grounded into a fielder\u2019s choice that scored outfielder Mickey Moniak in the second inning.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next: Padres (RHP Randy Vasquez, 1-3; 3.90) at Rockies (RHP Antonio Senzatela, 1-5; 5.50), at 6:40 p.m. on Friday to begin a three-game series at Coors Field.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Need a silver lining amid the worst start in Rockies franchise history? Get to know Hunter Goodman. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[3569,5,1487,167,52,4316,2092,1381,7168,1022,3568,4,168,7169,1106],"class_list":{"0":"post-12830","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-rockies","8":"tag-antonio-senzatela","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-bud-black","11":"tag-colorado","12":"tag-colorado-rockies","13":"tag-coloradorockies","14":"tag-hunter-goodman","15":"tag-jordan-beck","16":"tag-juan-mejia","17":"tag-kyle-freeland","18":"tag-mickey-moniak","19":"tag-mlb","20":"tag-rockies","21":"tag-tanner-gordon","22":"tag-tyler-kinley"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114476864993608013","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}