Hunter Goodman Home Run Record: 25 Before the Break, 27 at It
Hunter Goodman became the fourth catcher ever to reach 25 home runs before the All-Star break, then carried 27 into it and a second straight All-Star nod. Here is the first half that started the chase — and what every young catcher can copy from the swing.
- The first one went 428 feet to the third deck.
- The second went 428 feet to the bullpen beyond the fence in left-center.
- The third, off a high sinker on a full count in the seventh, went 401 feet.
Three home runs. Five RBIs. An 8-5 Rockies win over the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis on Saturday, June 27.
That night Hunter Goodman became the fourth catcher in history to hit 25 home runs before the All-Star break. The other three are the kind of names a young catcher hears in the dugout before he ever hears them on TV.
| Catcher | Season | HR before the break |
|---|---|---|
| Cal Raleigh | 2025 | 38 |
| Johnny Bench | 1970 | 28 |
| Iván Rodríguez | 2000 | 26 |
| Hunter Goodman | 2026 | 25 (finished the half with 27) |
“Those are some of the all-time greats,” Goodman said. “Any time you can be mentioned with them, it’s pretty surreal.”
The night in Minneapolis
Goodman stepped in against Twins starter Mike Paredes in the first inning and sent a solo shot to the third deck in left field — the kind of swing that makes a ballpark go quiet for half a second before it erupts. He did it again in the third. Same distance. Same arc. The ball settled in the bullpen in left-center.
Then came the seventh: two runners on, Rockies up 3-2, reliever Kody Funderburk on the mound. Goodman was ahead in the count on his first two homers, and this time he worked the count full. He did not chase. He stayed back, kept his hands quick, and let the swing stay short — the same discipline he uses on a 3-2 pitch behind the plate — and hammered the high sinker 401 feet to put the game away.
“When Goody gets hot, he stays hot for a while,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said. “He’s a really tough guy to get out.”
The night before, he had launched a 451-foot two-run shot in the ninth — the longest home run by anyone in baseball that Friday, per Baseball Savant — and the Twins still won in extra innings. Goodman let it go. A catcher squats for nine innings, takes foul tips off the forearms and shins, and calls the game while the infielders stretch between pitches. Staying explosive through that grind, and staying even after a loss, is the whole trick. He joined Larry Walker, Todd Helton, and Carlos González as the only Rockies ever to homer three times in a game — and the only catcher among them.
Two weeks later: 27, and an All-Star return
On July 5 the Rockies confirmed that Goodman was headed to his second straight All-Star Game, in Philadelphia on July 14, as a reserve behind the Braves’ Drake Baldwin, who won the fan vote. He was 26 years old. He carried 27 home runs into the break — the most by a National League catcher at the break since Bench’s 28 in 1970 — and led every big-league catcher in home runs, total bases, runs, slugging, and extra-base hits.
Every Rockies hitter gets the same question, so here is the answer. Eighteen of those 27 home runs came on the road, the most in Rockies history before a break. Those balls left sea-level parks against pitchers who were trying very hard to stop him. His contact numbers said the same thing the road total did.
| Through the 2026 break | Goodman |
|---|---|
| Home runs | 27 |
| Road home runs | 18 (Rockies record before a break) |
| Average exit velocity | 91.5 mph |
| Barrel rate | 17.3% |
| Hard-hit rate | 46.6% |
None of it came from nowhere. Goodman was a fourth-round pick out of the University of Memphis in 2021 and hit 13 home runs as a backup in 2024. Then he hit 31 in 2025 — the first Rockies hitter to reach 31 since 2019 — made his first All-Star team, and won the Silver Slugger, the award given each year to the best hitter at each position. Not a can’t-miss prospect. He stayed square to the ball, studied pitch sequences, and read what a pitcher wanted to do before the windup — which is exactly the preparation that makes him sharp behind the plate. The two jobs are the same work, pointed in different directions.
The first half was the setup. The second half became a run at the record book — two more three-homer games, back-to-back 30-homer seasons, and a Mike Piazza record he caught in August. Short swings. Quick hands. Make the ball hit the bat, even when your legs are done. Sweat the gear and never fear.
Try this at your next practice
- Short-path tee drill. Set a batting tee at your normal contact point. Choke up slightly and focus on driving the ball to the opposite-field gap using the shortest possible path from your hands to the ball. The goal isn’t distance — it’s hand speed and a flat barrel. That is the foundation of Goodman’s swing: efficient, not muscled.
- Count-specific pitch selection. Have a coach or partner call “ahead” (0-1, 0-2) or “behind” (2-0, 3-1) before each pitch in BP. Ahead, lay off pitches out of the zone and drive the one you’re looking for. Behind, put the ball in play to the middle of the field. Goodman’s three-homer night started with count management, and the third homer came on a full count he refused to chase.
- Leg-fatigued swing session. Do 20 squats, then step in and take 10 swings. Notice where your mechanics break down when you’re tired, then fix them. Catchers who hit deep into a season are the ones who have practiced staying disciplined when their legs are done.
Sources: Rockies’ Hunter Goodman smashes three home runs vs. Twins (Sentinel Colorado / AP, June 27, 2026); Hunter Goodman has three-homer game vs. Twins (MLB.com); Rockies’ Hunter Goodman Is Quietly Becoming the Most Dangerous Catcher in Baseball (Sports Illustrated); Hunter Goodman is Rockies’ 2026 All-Star Game representative (MLB.com); Rockies’ Goodman and his 27 homers return to All-Star Game (Colorado Springs Gazette); Goodman tunes out trade buzz, keeps up power surge (FOX Sports / AP); Baseball-Reference.