Zach Goodman reflects on his first season behind the mic for the Rockies

At the end of last season, Rockies broadcaster Jerry Schemmel was let go for the second time in five years. It was unclear who would join longtime radio voice Jack Corrigan in the booth, but the Rockies held auditions during spring training, and the job was eventually won by Zach Goodman – broadcaster for the Double-A Amarillo Sod Poodles and son of Rockies TV broadcaster Drew Goodman.

Goodman joined the booth on April 4th and never looked back. Through the ups and downs of the Rockies season, he reflected

on his rookie season.

Getting into a routine

One of the first things Goodman had to do was find a routine, especially since a typical workday looks very different working in sports.

“I’ll usually get up around 8:40ish to 9:00, and then I’ll go to work out. And then if we’re on the road, I’ll try to look around the city a little bit,” he said.

“But then I’ll come back and start looking up some stuff for the game. I’ll usually do the pitching matchup really early in my book just to have that ready for when I go to the ballpark. And then if it’s an away game, you’ve got to get on the bus whenever the bus is scheduled. If it’s a home game, I just try to get there for home clubhouse availability, which usually starts four hours before first pitch. And then once I’m there, I’m getting my interview. Then, I’m talking to people throughout the clubhouse to see if [I] can get anything interesting to use on air.”

He also uses the opportunity to continue developing relationships with players and personnel before heading to the dugout for Warren Schaeffer’s press conference and batting practice.

“And then you go up to the booth and start really grinding on your book,” he continued. “I’m someone who [likes] having a big scorebook, and I like having all of the information I want to use, the majority of it, on one page. I’m not good at trying to find it throughout other pages while also calling the action. So I like having everything I want to use in my book. So that’s usually a somewhat tedious (process), putting it together for an hour or hour and a half of writing everything in – finding different old stories, statistics, all that good stuff. So that takes a while.

“You hit the ballpark, and then you jump into the pregame show, then the game, and then the postgame show and all of a sudden you’re going home.”

New Things

There have also been numerous differences between the minors and Majors that Goodman has adjusted to. The most noticeable, of course, was the travel.

“You’re not on a bus for 12 hours,” he said. “You’re on a nice plane, and you’re going to big cities, and you’re traveling every few days compared to once a week.”

His favorite trip of the year was to Las Vegas and Chicago in June.

“Wrigley Field’s been my favorite visiting ballpark so far,” Goodman said. “It’s just all about the game of baseball. I love that. Every aspect about that place is celebrating baseball, which is really cool. But then obviously you’re in Vegas, and we stayed on the Strip and that was fun for a couple of days. I think we were all ready to get out of there on the third day.”

But in terms of actual broadcasting, there are a lot more resources and a lot more things that he needs to do to prepare.

“In my role with the Rockies radio right now with KOA, I have to get a pregame interview every single day of a player or sometimes an opposing broadcaster or a coach,” he said.

“But finding somebody to talk to for five minutes every single day, working around their schedule and coming with questions that’ll hopefully be interesting, relevant and different from the previous questions – just doing that on a daily basis has been something new to me, and I’ve really enjoyed that process. But that’s definitely been something that’s a little bit different because that’s not something I had to do at the minor league-level at all.”

When he’s not looking for Rockies players to interview, he tries to mix things up by finding opposing players with Colorado connections.

“I [interviewed] Jackson Holliday recently, just to talk about Ethan Holliday and his dad and growing up at Coors Field,” Goodman said. “And then I did Kyle Leahy on the Cardinals, who went to Erie High School and Colorado Mesa (University). Riley Cornelio with the Washington Nationals went to Pine Creek High School. So whenever there’s a Colorado connection, I go for that.”

Other times, especially if the team is struggling and there’s nobody to talk to, sometimes he’ll seek out a broadcaster from the opposing team to, “kind of get the lay of the land on how their team’s doing and their observations on the Rockies from an outsider’s point of view, who’s studying them to talk about them for a three-game set, but hasn’t watched them every single day and just being impressed by guys.”

Another thing that Goodman has needed to get used to, though, is interacting with fans.

“I think something else that has been new to me is getting notifications and DMs and comments on social media, whether they’re negative or positive,” he said.

“It’s just kind of funny because I don’t view myself in that way. I view myself as just a normal person who was playing college baseball a couple of years ago. I do normal things, and it’s just kind of weird to me that there’s people I don’t know who have strong opinions about me and will voice them to me over social media at times. And whether they’re positive or negative, it’s just kind of bizarre to me and weird to me, and it’s an adjustment that people know who I am. That’s kind of a weird one.”

But he’s learning to balance it, especially with advice from other members of the Rockies broadcast crews and players.

“It’s been really cool because I’ve had a lot of people reach out. There’s been so much positivity connected to it, and people reaching out to me and getting to interact with different fans who share the same love for the Rockies that I do and seeing them, whether it’s at the ballpark or just emails that I’ve gotten that I’ve been able to respond to and have a conversation with – all of that has been really cool, and I’ve enjoyed that aspect a ton,” he said.

“From the negative side of things, when people are critical about how I’m doing or the team or any of that, it’s funny,” he continued. “It simply does not bother me at all because if you’re taking the time to write to a 26-year-old who’s living his dream and you’re just trying to bring him down in any way. Why would I care about your opinion? I don’t know you. It doesn’t bother me. It’s the entertainment industry – you’re never going to make everybody happy, and I just go based off what my family and friends think of me, and what my coworkers think of me, and as long as all of that is positive, then I’m OK.”

Highlights

The Rockies finished 58-104 this season, but it was filled with plenty of highlights for the young broadcaster. While he said “the whole season” has been a highlight, especially since he was able to spend the year with his dad covering the team he grew up a “diehard fan of,” there was a moment recently that will be etched in his memory forever: Catching a foul ball at Yankee Stadium.

“It was right after I dropped the ball the previous road game, which was a week before in Atlanta, but I botched that one,” he said. “[It was] just an easy pop-up right to me. I dropped it. I got a whole heap of ribbing from everybody in the Rockies travel crew to attendants at Coors Field when I got home. So then to catch one, and I was doing play-by-play during it, was pretty cool.”

It came off the bat of Hunter Goodman facing Cam Schlittler.

“[Goodman] fouled it back. It was just right at me, and it was like a heat-seeking missile,” he recalled. “I couldn’t get out of the way, but it hit me right in the chest and fortunately, I caught it clean with my hands. And I don’t usually do this because it’s bad etiquette, but I thought it would be cool to get both Schlittler and Goodman to sign the ball. I couldn’t track Cam Schlittler down in their clubhouse, but Hunter signed it for me. So that’ll go up in my office or my room, but I’ll definitely have that ball forever.”

Goodman also had the chance to make some memorable calls, including the third home run of each of Goodman’s three-home run games. But, as luck would have it, he was also able to call his first walk-off in early September.

“The way our broadcast is structured is that Jack is the lead, so he does the ninth and the 10th innings, so anytime there’s a walk-off, it’s usually going to be him calling it and getting to call the end of the game. If it’s the 11th, that’s my inning and I do play-by-play for it,” he explained.

“And a couple weeks ago, the Rockies walked off the Orioles. It was a crazy back-and-forth game, and so many things went against the Rockies. Their luck was so poor, and eventually – after a long at-bat, 3-2, a lot of two-strike pitches left on left with Brett Sullivan fresh into the game – he lines a walk-off single into left field,” Goodman recalled. “And getting to call that was my first walk-off call at the major-league level. And that was one, even though I’ve been doing it all year, and at the start of the year, it hits you like, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re doing Major League Baseball. This is really cool.’

“I got a little emotional after that one because that was one that really hit home, like, ‘Wow, you’re here. You just got to call a walk-off in a Major League Baseball game. That’s really cool.’ So that was one that definitely stands out to me.”

Challenges & Surprises

As with any job, there have also been some challenges that Goodman has faced. Namely, the Rockies had another bad year and trying to balance representing the team with being honest with the fans.

“It’s difficult because in some ways, you’re protecting these guys because you know them and you’re representing the team,” he said. “We’re not some reporter looking for an angle, trying to discuss a guy and his faults. We’re looking to prop these guys up and talk about them and be an ally for them.

“But at the same time, you have to be honest with the fans,” he continued.

“Fans understand the game, too, and they’ll know if you’re BS-ing them completely. So there’s that line to walk. But with the Rockies this season in particular, is the record in a great spot? No. But from the expectations of what happened last year to where the organization is right now, it is just so positive. So many things have gone well this year, from what Paul DePodesta has done to Josh Byrnes and Walker Monfort. So many great additions to the team. I think Warren Schaeffer has done an excellent job at the helm, keeping this team motivated and he really is the right fit for this group of guys.”

He also pointed to players like Jake McCarthy, Cole Carrigg, Troy Johnston, Kyle Karros and TJ Rumfield as positive points in another down season, as well as the 16-win improvement from last year.

“If you improve 15-20 games, that is a massive improvement,” he said.

“And yes, does 100 losses look good? No. But for this organization, this whole season has been such a massive step in the right direction, and I think we’re going to continue to make better strides as the years go on. If you’re a Rockies fan, if you support this team, I’d be really excited about the direction of this organization and its ability to have sustained success.”

But as far as surprises go, Goodman mentioned the massive machine that makes a baseball game operate, even though he grew up seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff.

“I think the fans would be surprised at how much goes into a major league operation, like in terms of at the ballpark,” he said, “the amount of clubhouse managers, the amount of people looking through video, the amount of coaching staff looking through video, the amount of trainers, the health and nutrition standpoint, the social media, the marketing, the communications… I mean, it just goes on and on and on.

“And there are so many people that are involved in making the organization work,” Goodman continued.

“It’s crazy the amount of people that have to do so many jobs to put a baseball team on the field – put a winning team on the field, keeping those guys healthy, as well as the people that go into putting together a broadcast on both the radio and the television side. I mean, there’s so many people involved in the operation, and I kind of knew it from growing up, but I think people would be really surprised at the manpower that goes into putting together a broadcast, a baseball team’s performance, all of that. There’s just so many people involved.”

What’s Next

Now that Goodman has wrapped up his rookie season, he is excited to “see how far [he] can take this thing.”

“I would love to do football and basketball and hockey and whatever medium is available,” he said. “I really do like the radio medium, but I’d also do television, as well.”

But he has really come to appreciate the unique nature of baseball radio.

“I love baseball radio, especially because it’s one of the last true sports that relies on that medium, and it gives you the opportunity to really describe everything that’s going on in a baseball game,” he said.

“And there’s so much always going on, and I like the pacing of it and the ability to really have the freedom to take it any direction you want. [That] has been really fun. And then also just being super descriptive and trying your best to paint a picture to somebody that can’t see what you’re seeing. That’s what I’m constantly thinking about when I’m in the radio booth – (I’m) thinking about what the listener is hearing and hoping that they can envision what I am seeing out on the field.”

He also noted how different that is from a television broadcast.

“And that’s a challenge that is very different from television because on television, you could take four pitches and not say anything,” he said. “You could take four pitches and be talking about the Oscars or the Emmys or anything random, but the viewer can still see what’s going on in the game. Whereas on the radio side, you’re every pitch. You’re trying to make sure that everybody knows exactly what’s going on. You’re their eyes and ears. You have to be the one to describe it to them. So I really enjoy that aspect of it, and I’ve learned a ton this year from both Jesse Thomas and Jack Corrigan.”

But as far as the offseason goes, Goodman plans to keep busy.

“I’m somebody that likes to work, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy the first few days off, and then I have a lot of weddings and stuff,” he said. “My little brother’s bachelor party is coming up in a few weeks, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy that stuff. But I’m also sure that pretty soon after, I’ll be like, ‘All right, I’m ready to have baseball back.’

“And I’ll also be looking forward to the players and the owners coming up with an agreement so that we have baseball next year, so that’s something obviously we’ll all be keeping an eye on,” he continued. “But you know, (it’s) definitely really important for the people working in the industry. But I’m looking forward to doing other sports, as well. I love baseball and I love talking about it every day, so I’m going to miss it when it’s done.”