82% 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.
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.
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
1-for-5
W 4-2 vs Baltimore Orioles · 2026-09-01
carries a .252 average into today
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.
120G
449AB
113H
.252AVG
36HR
73RBI
5SB
182B
13B
.855OPS
Chasing .400
.252Current AVG
112Consecutive hits needed to reach .400
107-for-100Needed over next 100 AB
1.311Rest-of-season AVG to finish .400 (97-for-74)
Status: IMPOSSIBLE
Milestone tracker
| Chase | Target | Current | Pace | Needed from here | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| .350 AVG | .350 | .252 | .252 | .959 ROS | EXTREME |
| .380 AVG | .380 | .252 | .252 | 1.162 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .400 AVG | .400 | .252 | .252 | 1.311 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .406 AVG | .406 | .252 | .252 | 1.351 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| .466 AVG | .466 | .252 | .252 | 1.770 ROS | IMPOSSIBLE |
| 50 HR | 50 | 36 | 42 | 14 in 23 g · 1 per 5.3 AB | EXTREME |
| 60 HR | 60 | 36 | 42 | 24 in 23 g · 1 per 3.1 AB | EXTREME |
| 62 HR | 62 | 36 | 42 | 26 in 23 g · 1 per 2.9 AB | EXTREME |
| 70 HR | 70 | 36 | 42 | 34 in 23 g · 1 per 2.2 AB | EXTREME |
| 73 HR | 73 | 36 | 42 | 37 in 23 g · 1 per 2.0 AB | EXTREME |
| 200 Hits | 200 | 113 | 132 | 87 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 225 Hits | 225 | 113 | 132 | 112 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 250 Hits | 250 | 113 | 132 | 137 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 262 Hits | 262 | 113 | 132 | 149 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 50 SB | 50 | 5 | 6 | 45 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 80 SB | 80 | 5 | 6 | 75 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 100 SB | 100 | 5 | 6 | 95 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 130 SB | 130 | 5 | 6 | 125 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 50 2B | 50 | 18 | 21 | 32 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 60 2B | 60 | 18 | 21 | 42 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 67 2B | 67 | 18 | 21 | 49 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 20 3B | 20 | 1 | 1 | 19 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 25 3B | 25 | 1 | 1 | 24 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 36 3B | 36 | 1 | 1 | 35 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 125 RBI | 125 | 73 | 85 | 52 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 150 RBI | 150 | 73 | 85 | 77 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 175 RBI | 175 | 73 | 85 | 102 in 23 g | EXTREME |
| 191 RBI | 191 | 73 | 85 | 118 in 23 g | EXTREME |
How likely is the finish?
44%finishes with 40+ home runs
0%finishes with 50+ home runs
0%finishes with 60+ home runs
His rate of 72.430 home runs per 1,000 plate appearances is read as 63.190 after regressing toward the league's 30.360 — 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 40.3, against a straight team-game pace of 42. Exact beta-binomial over 82 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-01 | 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 139 team games; 59 in 2001