The New York Yankees need a catcher. That much is obvious to anyone who’s watched them try to patch the position all season. The question is whether they’re willing to pay what it’ll take to fix it.
According to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo, the Yankees have called the Colorado Rockies about Hunter Goodman — though the inquiry wasn’t recent, and there’s no indication talks have advanced toward a deal. The Aug. 3 trade deadline is closing fast, and Goodman is one of several names circulating as New York searches for right-handed production behind the plate.
Goodman, 26, is in the middle of a season that backs up the interest. Through 90 games, he’s hitting .254 with 27 home runs and an .863 OPS. He’s been an All-Star in each of the last two seasons, and in 2025 he posted a .278 average with 31 homers, 91 RBIs, and a Silver Slugger award. The power is real. The bat plays.
Here’s the catch, and it’s a big one: Goodman has three years of club control remaining after this season. That’s not a rental. The Rockies aren’t going to hand him over for a bag of batting practice balls and a low-level prospect. Any trade would require a significant return — the kind of prospect haul that makes a front office sweat.
Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers has been mentioned as a more obvious target for the Yankees, and that makes sense on paper. Jeffers is a known commodity who’d cost less in terms of prospect capital. But Goodman’s combination of power and contractual control is the kind of thing that gets a general manager’s attention, even if the price tag gives him pause.
Goodman’s defensive numbers behind the plate are less inspiring than his offensive output. Baseball Reference’s defensive metrics show negative runs saved at catcher across his career, and his caught-stealing rate sits around 17 percent — below the league average. He’s split time between catcher and designated hitter this season, logging 64 games behind the plate and 26 as DH. The bat is what drives his value. The glove is a work in progress.
That split matters for a team like the Yankees, who need someone who can catch regularly rather than just hit. Goodman can do both, but the question is whether he can do both well enough in the American League East, where every stolen base and every passed ball gets magnified.
The Yankees’ interest, at least at this stage, reads more like due diligence than a pursuit in full gallop. They’ve checked in. They know the player. They also know the Rockies’ asking price will reflect three years of control on a 26-year-old All-Star with 27 home runs before the All-Star break.
Goodman broke into the majors in 2023 with a 23-game cup of coffee that produced a .632 OPS. His 2024 wasn’t much better — .190 over 70 games. Then something clicked. He hit .278 with 31 homers in 2025, made the All-Star team, won a Silver Slugger, and hasn’t stopped hitting since. Whatever the Rockies’ coaching staff found, it stuck.
Whether the Yankees find a deal for Goodman, Jeffers, or someone else entirely, the deadline will force a decision. Catching help doesn’t grow on trees in late July, and the ones worth having come with a tax.
The film doesn’t lie: Goodman can hit. What he costs is a different story.
Sources:
- Yahoo Sports — Yankees 2026 MLB trade deadline buzz: NY has shown past interest in Hunter Goodman
- Baseball Reference — Hunter Goodman career stats