Welcome to the 2025 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2025. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context.
The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
No. 1, Hunter Goodman (3.7 rWAR)
What a difference a year can make.
When we ran our Ranking the Rockies series at the end of the 2024 season, Hunter Goodman clocked in at no. 49 of 54 with -0.8 wins above replacement. He had just finished a season in which he battled a multitude of veterans for playing time in the outfield, at first base, and behind home plate. In 70 games and 211 at-bats, he hit .190/.228/.417 with 64 strikeouts to eight walks. His batting average was above the Mendoza line just twice and peaked at .204 and his on-base percentage made it over .250 just once—all the way back in early May.
However, Goodman ended 2024 on somewhat of a high note. In the month of September he hit .226/.255/.547 with two doubles and five home runs, rounding out his season home run total to 13. He also made appearances behind the plate in 12 of his 16 games played.
Goodman had made his Major League debut as a catcher early in the 2024 season as a necessity due to injuries on the active roster. The Rockies sporadically sprinkled in more catching duties throughout the season, culminating in five straight starts at catcher to finish the year.
The Rockies entered spring training this season with the notion of having veteran Jacob Stallings as their starting catcher after signing him back on a one year deal. The slugging Goodman would compete against the more defensively focused top prospect Drew Romo for the backup role.
Those plans were quickly set aside when Goodman put together an impressive Cactus League performance. In 19 games and 45 at-bats, he hit .444/.500/.822 with six doubles, a triple, three home runs, and 10 RBI. He struck out just four times and drew four walks. During spring training, he played almost exclusively behind the plate with two appearances as a designated hitter.
Goodman entered the 2025 season with a role he had not carried since his final year at the University of Memphis in 2021: the everyday starting catcher. Stallings was relegated to backup while Romo was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque.
He never looked back and never gave the Rockies a chance to regret their decision. Goodman was not only one of the Rockies’ best overall hitters in the first half of the season, he was one of the best hitting catchers in baseball. He hit .277/.325/.517 with 18 doubles, four triples, 17 home runs, and 52 RBI in the first half with a 116 wRC+ on his way to being named the Rockies’ lone All-Star for the 2025 Midsummer Classic.
Unlike other first-half darlings like 2024 Ryan McMahon, Goodman didn’t slow down in the second half. Following the All-Star break he hit .279/.321/.525 with another 10 doubles, a triple, 14 home runs, and 39 RBIs.
Goodman finished the season as the Rockies’ leader in OPS+ and wRC+, hitting .278/.323/.520 in 144 games—more than double the games he played in 2024—and leading the Rockies in hits (150), doubles (28), home runs (31), RBIs (91), and total bases (281). He also hit the second-most triples on the team with 5.
Goodman’s 2025 campaign was the best overall season by a Rockies catcher in franchise history, setting franchise records for hits, home runs, RBIs, and WAR by a primary catcher, beating previous marks set by Wilin Rosario and Chris Iannetta. He was also the first Rockies batter to hit 30 or more home runs since 2019.
Despite never being a primary catcher at the professional level, Goodman thrived. He hit significantly better when he geared up behind home plate, slashing .290/.323/.572 with 28 home runs in 412 plate appearances compared to the .250/.325/.375 with two home runs in 144 at-bats as the DH.
“When I’m catching that day, the stuff behind the plate is more important than the stuff in the box,” Goodman explained. “So just being able to kind of forget about my at bats, whether I do good or bad, and go back to catching and then reset for the next at bat, I think it’s a little easier to do that when I’m behind the plate.”
For his efforts, Goodman was named the National League Silver Slugger for catchers, beating out fellow All-Star Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the award.
Goodman didn’t only contribute at the plate, however. He contributed behind it. As expected in late 2024 and early 2025 for someone who hadn’t regularly caught since college, Goodman’s defense was a bit rough. However, he steadily improved throughout the season. By the end of the year, he had significantly improved his blocks above average and pitch framing to rank in the top half of catchers in the league. He also improved his pop time.
The Rockies entered 2025 unsure of their future at catcher. Hunter Goodman forced the issue. Stallings was granted his unconditional release before the All-Star break, and former top catching prospect Romo was quietly waived this offseason to clear roster space.
It would appear the newest franchise catcher has arrived, and manager Warren Schaeffer believes he can continue to improve.
“He has done it well, his body has held up,” Schaffer said. “So, now it’s about pushing him. How much can you push him next year to play? It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he hit 40 to 45 [homers].”
The Rockies will need to see if Goodman can either repeat or build upon his performance next season, but for 2025 he was one of the lone stars shining bright amongst the darkness of a brutal losing season.
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