Rockies 2024 Player Rankings: No. 10 Hunter Goodman

Over the next three weeks, I will be releasing my top 10 player rankings for the Rockies heading into 2024. The top end of the list is pretty easy, but the Rockies really lack a lot of star power. Speaking of lacking, their pitching is going to really struggle this year and that's what made the last four or five spots really hard to fill out.

Hunter Goodman's upside earns him the No. 10 spot in this year's Rockies player rankings

The 2021 fourth-round pick out of Memphis moved through the minor leagues pretty quickly. Last year, he only got 15 games at Triple-A before being promoted to the big leagues. This guy has absolutely raked when given extended looks at each level, and with some more at-bats at the major league level, fans should expect to see more of the same from Goodman.

In 2023, Goodman had 77 plate appearances and he struggled in those limited at-bats. He slashed .200/.247/.386 with only a single home run and a stolen base. He was a little overmatched with a 31.2% strikeout rate. It was only good for a 48 wRC+, but again it was only 77 plate appearances. He spent some time at first base as well as right field, though he didn't grade out that well in right field (in only 81 innings out there). He did grade out as a solid first baseman, but there is a logjam that position.

There are some real strong indicators that Goodman is going to be a solid major league player. To start, he slashed .239/.325/.523 with 25 home runs in only 400 plate appearances at Double-A last year. He also showed a solid understanding of the zone with a 24.5% strikeout rate and a solid 10.3% walk rate. He then hit .371/.418/.903 with 9 home runs and 33 RBI in only 15 games at Triple-A, prompting the Rockies to call him up in late August.

Looking at Hunter Goodman's Baseball Savant page will also give some hope that there is an above average bat in there. He had a barrel percentage of 10.4%, which is 3.5% higher than the major league average. This translated to an average exit velocity of 88.7 mph, which was slightly above major league average.

Goodman has a lot of interesting tools and has the potential to be a real impact bat for a team that lacks talent on most of the diamond. I wouldn't be surprised to see Goodman spend some time at Triple-A this year, but after what he did in only 15 games, he seems ready to prove himself at the major league level.