81% season-shape match
Hunter Goodman
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 2 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 to watch next
Hunter Goodman faces a right-hander in Andre Pallante. He is hitting .242 with 27 home runs in 306 at-bats against right-handers this season.
Situational splits
| Split | AB | AVG | HR | RBI | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vs RHP | 306 | .242 | 27 | 49 | .845 |
| vs LHP | 143 | .273 | 9 | 24 | .873 |
| Home | 207 | .232 | 15 | 30 | .802 |
| Away | 242 | .269 | 21 | 43 | .899 |
| Day | 140 | .243 | 9 | 18 | .776 |
| Night | 309 | .256 | 27 | 55 | .891 |
2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.
Chasing .400
Status: IMPOSSIBLE
Milestone tracker
| Chase | Target | Current | Pace | Needed from here | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .350 AVG | .350 | .252 | .252 | .972 ROS | EXTREME |
| .380 AVG | .380 | .252 | .252 | 1.197 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .400 AVG | .400 | .252 | .252 | 1.338 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .406 AVG | .406 | .252 | .252 | 1.394 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .466 AVG | .466 | .252 | .252 | 1.831 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| 50 HR | 50 | 36 | 42 | 14 in 22 g · 1 per 5.0 AB | EXTREME |
| 60 HR | 60 | 36 | 42 | 24 in 22 g · 1 per 2.9 AB | EXTREME |
| 62 HR | 62 | 36 | 42 | 26 in 22 g · 1 per 2.7 AB | EXTREME |
| 70 HR | 70 | 36 | 42 | 34 in 22 g · 1 per 2.1 AB | EXTREME |
| 73 HR | 73 | 36 | 42 | 37 in 22 g · 1 per 1.9 AB | EXTREME |
| 200 Hits | 200 | 113 | 131 | 87 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 225 Hits | 225 | 113 | 131 | 112 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 250 Hits | 250 | 113 | 131 | 137 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 262 Hits | 262 | 113 | 131 | 149 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 50 SB | 50 | 5 | 6 | 45 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 80 SB | 80 | 5 | 6 | 75 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 100 SB | 100 | 5 | 6 | 95 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 130 SB | 130 | 5 | 6 | 125 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 50 2B | 50 | 18 | 21 | 32 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 60 2B | 60 | 18 | 21 | 42 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 67 2B | 67 | 18 | 21 | 49 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 20 3B | 20 | 1 | 1 | 19 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 25 3B | 25 | 1 | 1 | 24 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 36 3B | 36 | 1 | 1 | 35 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 125 RBI | 125 | 73 | 84 | 52 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 150 RBI | 150 | 73 | 84 | 77 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 175 RBI | 175 | 73 | 84 | 102 in 22 g | EXTREME |
| 191 RBI | 191 | 73 | 84 | 118 in 22 g | EXTREME |
How likely is the finish?
His rate of 72.430 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 63.160 after regressing toward the league's 30.240 — 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 40.1, against a straight team-game pace of 42. Exact beta-binomial over 78 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-01 | 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 |
| 2026-08-12 | Arizona Diamondbacks | W 6-4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .251 |
| 2026-08-11 | Arizona Diamondbacks | W 3-2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .253 |
Recent highlights
Lahman + Retrosheet context
How this season fits history
Through 140 team games; 59 in 2001