Purple Row After Dark: Hunter Goodman is ready for what’s next

We learned a lot at Rockies Fest 2026, so I thought we’d take this week for a late-night debriefing.

Over the course of the weekend, I got to participate in a range of conversations, and I’m not sure they lend themselves to Rockpiles, but they seem like good discussion starters for the Purple Row Night Owls.

First up is Colorado Rockies catcher Hunter Goodman, who met with media following Rockies Fest. (Kyle Freeland and Jake McCarthy also took question, but I’ll save them for later in the week.)

Here are a few of Goodman’s comments that struck me as interesting.

On Finally seeing his Silver Slugger and looking to 2026

It was awesome to see. I mean, you look at it, and it also has the names of all the other positions that that won the award. There’s some names of guys that have been doing it for 8 or 10, years. So it’s really cool to see that my name up there with them. And going forward, I think I’m still building off what I did last year and trying to improve on some things I need to improve on. I know it was a good season, but there’s a lot of things that that I have to work on that need to get better in order to continue doing things like that.

On his offseason focus

I’d say one of the weaker parts of my game has been my swing decisions. When I’m swinging at good pitches, it goes well, and then when I’m not, it’s when it kind of goes downhill. So offensively that’s been the biggest thing for me.

And then also just getting really comfortable behind the dish. I mean, last year for the whole first half, was kind of like I was in fight-or-flight mode the whole game. So just trying to get to where I’m comfortable on the plate and working to get these guys strikes and call better games and stuff like that.

On resetting after a difficult 2025

I mean me, personally, I don’t want to forget about it.

I think that it kind of lights a fire under you. It’s a tough year. Nobody wants to lose that much. Nobody wants that to happen.

I think the guys who are here, you have to look at that and be like, “You can’t let that happen again.” That’s, that’s just my thoughts on it.

I don’t know what Kyle thinks about it, but that’s kind of the way I’ve thought about it this offseason.

On becoming a team leader

I mean, we’ve had a lot of conversations [with manager Warren Schaeffer], even starting back from when he was the interim, calling me into the office and talking about it.

I think that’s something that I would love to be able to do. I’ve never really had a role like that, but I think that would be something that I could potentially be good at, and I’ll be able to learn from Kyle [Freeland] or [Michael] Lorenzen or some of the older guys on the team that can help me step towards that role because at the age I’m at, I don’t think I need to be like the main guy saying something or doing something.

But I definitely think that in the future, I would love to try and get better at that and put myself in the position to be there.

On what he hopes to see the Rockies do better in 2026

Last year, we had a super young team — me included. And I think we had a lot of guys, at least from watching games or being in the clubhouse, I think we had a lot of people that were happy to be here.

When I first got called up, it’s like, you’re just happy to be here, and you can’t play like that.

You’ve got to walk on the field and be like, “We’re the best team. I’m the best player on the field.” You got to walk on the field with a different level of confidence.

And I think there were some series and some games last year where you’re walking onto the field as a team looking around, and maybe guys aren’t super confident. Guys aren’t. They’re just happy to be there. So I think bringing a different mentality to the game would be a big step in the right direction.

On front office changes

I think just talking to them, getting phone calls when they were in the hiring process, and getting new guys and just how open minded they are and how ready they are to try and tackle this, playing at elevation and playing at sea level and finding new ways to try and improve how we tackle both both sides of that.

There’s a lot here, so I turn the floor over to the night owls.

Also, please take a moment to appreciate those snakeskin boots.

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