In 2025, the Rockies started the year with catchers Jacob Stallings and Hunter Goodman. The veteran Stallings was in his 10th MLB season and Goodman was in just his third. Ultimately, though, 2025 not only brought Goodman’s first full year in the MLB, but it was also his first full year of scoring.
Braxton Fulford also eventually emerged, having made his MLB debut on April 16, and finished the season alongside Goodman after Stallings was released in June.
Goodman is clearly having a career year with an All-Star selection and Silver Slugger award and is looking to build on that, but Fulford is also looking to take the next step in his own career in 2026.
Everyone learned something in 2025 – myself included – but both Fulford and Goodman learned valuable lessons that will carry them into 2026.
“It’s the same game,” Fulford said of his biggest lesson. “Just go out there, play hard and trust your abilities because you are there for a reason.”
Goodman repeated that, but also added this.
“Even if you have a good season, there are a lot of tough moments where you’re going through things and trying to figure things out, so just try to stay level-headed,” Goodman said.
“And I think we learned a lot as a team. Last year we had a lot of young guys play and get a chance to get their feet wet. And I’m still young too, so [it was] good to get that first full season and catching them was really good. So I think we learned a lot and we’re going to try to win some baseball games this year.”
In the offseason they focused on different things. For Goodman, it was about bettering himself behind the plate.
“I paid a lot of attention to the things behind the plate,” he said. “Receiving some things, cleaning up some of my throws. My throwing was pretty bad. Last year it was pretty bad throwing to the bases, so [I’m] I’m trying to figure some of those things out. ‘
For Fulford, it was more about working behind the plate And before it.
“[I did] a little bit of swing work, just trying to make things more efficient there,” he said. “Catching work, same thing. I tried to clean up several areas that I thought would have been better: receiving, throwing. I think a lot of areas felt good last year, so [I’m] I just tried to build on that and then clean up different areas that were inefficient.
In addition to their own personal work, they – like the rest of the team – are adjusting to the new changes the Rockies have made to their coaching staff and front office. But they are curious about the sequel.
“I love it!” Fulford said.
“There’s a lot of good energy, new ways of thinking and new ways of doing things.”
He added: “Pitchers have a lot of resources that they can use to improve their arsenal, to make adjustments where they saw deficiencies last year. The same goes for the catchers. We’re going to do things differently so that we can get our pitchers in the zone so we can attack hitters early. We also have more resources there and a very different way of thinking about the offensive part of the game.”
Fulford said, “Especially on the pitching side, we’re going to get ahead and stay ahead. We’re not going to worry so much about pinpoint accuracy as we’re throwing strikes with a lot of pitches and throwing our best stuff.” [We’re] don’t just try to find the perfect location.
Goodman echoed the “good energy” and said he is excited to work with both the new and returning coaches.
“I like the hitting coaches,” he said. “Evidently, [Jordan] Pacheco is back from last year and then Brett [Pill]It’s been great so far. And then just watching how the pitching coaches work with the pitchers and how they talk to me. I’m just excited to move on. I think the new staff is very open-minded to try new things in Denver, which I think will be good.
Heading into 2026, both have similar goals.
For Goodman, it’s about “staying healthy and leaving camp ready to play.”
For Fulford it is “wanting[ing] to show my skills, go out there and play hard because I know I’m more than capable of being an everyday catcher.
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