The Rockies made it official: Hunter Goodman is going on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 15, with a left shoulder strain that's been quietly building for weeks.
This isn't a guy the Rockies can just shrug off losing. Goodman entered the day sitting on 34 home runs, tops among all catchers in baseball and fifth overall in MLB, to go with a.266/.321/.529 line. He made the All-Star team this year off that kind of production, his second straight 30-homer season, and he's racked up 65 home runs combined over the last two years in barely over 1,000 plate appearances. That's not a hot streak, that's who he's become.
The warning signs had been there. Goodman hadn't appeared in a game since August 12, and he was actually in the lineup against the Dodgers on August 17 before getting scratched pregame when the shoulder flared up again. He'd caught the first two games of a series in Arizona before sliding in as the DH for the third, the kind of workload shuffling that usually means a team is trying to buy time before the inevitable.
Manager Warren Schaeffer said he expects Goodman back as soon as he's eligible, meaning this looks more like a precautionary stint than a long-term absence. With Colorado's playoff hopes already a non-factor down the stretch, there's zero reason to push a guy having a career year through pain when the shoulder can just be given a proper reset now.
In the corresponding move, the Rockies called up Braxton Fulford from Triple-A Albuquerque, with Brett Sullivan sliding in as the primary catcher behind the plate in the meantime. Neither is replacing Goodman's power numbers, but that was never the plan, this is about getting him right for whatever's left of the season and heading into next year.
Watch the return timeline closely. If Schaeffer's estimate holds, Goodman should be back within the week, still chasing that home run total and still the best thing the Rockies have going offensively in an otherwise lost season.