84% season-shape match
Why he matters right now
Hunter Goodman has already passed his career best in home runs
He has 36; his previous best was 31, in 2025. That is measured over the two seasons of at least 200 at-bats he has played.
This has been his headline for 5 straight days.
The case in 30 seconds
- 36 36 home runs, past his previous best of 31 in 2025 year-by-year record, 2 prior seasons since 2024 (MLB Stats API, cached)
- 36 6th in home runs at 36 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
The honest caveat
A career-best total is measured against his own record and nobody else's, and for most players that record is short. Beating it says this year is his best; it says nothing about where the season sits in the league, and a young player passing an early-career mark is closer to normal than to remarkable.
What to watch next
Next up: vs St. Louis Cardinals.
Every claim above, with its source (2)
- 36 home runs, past his previous best of 31 in 2025 year-by-year record, 2 prior seasons since 2024 (MLB Stats API, cached)
- 6th in home runs at 36 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
Other cases this page considered and did not lead with: Hunter Goodman is top-10 in the majors in home runs.
The evidence
What changed last night
2 RBI
W 10-7 vs St. Louis Cardinals · 2026-09-05
carries a .249 average into today
What to watch next
vs St. Louis Cardinals
Coors Field · 3:10 p.m. ET
Facing Kyle Leahy
Hunter Goodman faces a right-hander in Kyle Leahy. He is hitting .242 with 27 home runs in 310 at-bats against right-handers this season.
Situational splits
| Split | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHP | 310 | .242 | 27 | 52 | .842 |
| vs LHP | 147 | .265 | 9 | 24 | .850 |
| Home | 215 | .228 | 15 | 33 | .784 |
| Away | 242 | .269 | 21 | 43 | .899 |
| Day | 140 | .243 | 9 | 18 | .776 |
| Night | 317 | .252 | 27 | 58 | .875 |
2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.
122G
457AB
114H
.249AVG
36HR
76RBI
5SB
182B
13B
.846OPS
Chasing .400
.249Current AVG
115Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
109-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
1.484Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (95-for-64)
Status: IMPOSSIBLE
Milestone tracker
| Chase | Target | Current | Pace | Needed from here | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .350 AVG | .350 | .249 | .249 | 1.078 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .380 AVG | .380 | .249 | .249 | 1.312 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .400 AVG | .400 | .249 | .249 | 1.484 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .406 AVG | .406 | .249 | .249 | 1.531 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .466 AVG | .466 | .249 | .249 | 2.016 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| 50 HR | 50 | 36 | 41 | 14 in 20 g · 1 per 4.6 AB | EXTREME |
| 60 HR | 60 | 36 | 41 | 24 in 20 g · 1 per 2.7 AB | EXTREME |
| 62 HR | 62 | 36 | 41 | 26 in 20 g · 1 per 2.5 AB | EXTREME |
| 70 HR | 70 | 36 | 41 | 34 in 20 g · 1 per 1.9 AB | EXTREME |
| 73 HR | 73 | 36 | 41 | 37 in 20 g · 1 per 1.7 AB | EXTREME |
| 200 Hits | 200 | 114 | 130 | 86 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 225 Hits | 225 | 114 | 130 | 111 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 250 Hits | 250 | 114 | 130 | 136 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 262 Hits | 262 | 114 | 130 | 148 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 50 SB | 50 | 5 | 6 | 45 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 80 SB | 80 | 5 | 6 | 75 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 100 SB | 100 | 5 | 6 | 95 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 130 SB | 130 | 5 | 6 | 125 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 50 2B | 50 | 18 | 21 | 32 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 60 2B | 60 | 18 | 21 | 42 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 67 2B | 67 | 18 | 21 | 49 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 20 3B | 20 | 1 | 1 | 19 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 25 3B | 25 | 1 | 1 | 24 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 36 3B | 36 | 1 | 1 | 35 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 125 RBI | 125 | 76 | 87 | 49 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 150 RBI | 150 | 76 | 87 | 74 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 175 RBI | 175 | 76 | 87 | 99 in 20 g | EXTREME |
| 191 RBI | 191 | 76 | 87 | 115 in 20 g | EXTREME |
How likely is the finish?
33%finishes with 40+ home runs
0%finishes with 50+ home runs
0%finishes with 60+ home runs
His rate of 71.010 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 62.160 after regressing toward the league's 30.150 — a leaderboard selects for players who have outperformed, so an unregressed rate projected forward overstates every one of them. That puts the expected finish at 39.7, against a straight team-game pace of 41. Exact beta-binomial over 71 remaining plate appearances, averaged across playing-time scenarios. Calibrated against Retrosheet finishes: within 7 points of observed frequency in every band, and within 2 in three of five. It is a model, not a measurement.
Home run pace vs the benchmark seasons
46.1%of comparable chases reached 40 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 50 HR
0.0%of comparable chases reached 60 HR
Empirical: seasons within ±2 HR of his total at the same team-game checkpoint (n=306); median finish 39. Retrosheet.
Recent game log
Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.
| Date | Opp | Result | AB | H | HR | RBI | R | SB | BB | K | AVG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-05 | St. Louis Cardinals | W 10-7 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .249 |
| 2026-09-04 | St. Louis Cardinals | L 6-7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .250 |
| 2026-09-01 | Baltimore Orioles | W 4-2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .252 |
| 2026-08-31 | Baltimore Orioles | L 1-2 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .252 |
| 2026-08-30 | Atlanta Braves | L 2-3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .254 |
| 2026-08-29 | Atlanta Braves | L 1-2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .254 |
| 2026-08-28 | Atlanta Braves | L 4-6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .256 |
| 2026-08-27 | Washington Nationals | L 1-7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .252 |
| 2026-08-26 | Washington Nationals | W 13-1 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .252 |
| 2026-08-25 | Washington Nationals | W 3-1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .251 |
Recent highlights
Lahman + Retrosheet context
How this season fits history
Through 142 team games; 60 in 2001