Kansas State was in Lawrence this past weekend for a Big 12 series against the Jayhawks and I was able to get out to the Friday pre-game and game mostly to get eyes on KSU shortstop Nick Goodwin.
Since it was only a one game look, I’m hoping to get to an upcoming series in Manhattan to have a little more of an observational sample size. Below are some notes and video on Goodwin who hit his 8th and 9th home runs of the season in the series.
Offensive Notes:
Goodwin hits out of a square, upright setup and has a medium, rhythmic hand load. Uses a toe-tap trigger and a quiet head throughout. Goodwin has a high slot-entry with his hands and does a nice job maintaining aggressive intent in his hacks to go along with his middle-pull approach. There’s occasionally some stiffness present that hinders him getting his whole lower half involved.
Goodwin looks like he identifies and tracks both fastballs and secondary offerings well. He showed solid-average bat speed through the zone with a hint of length in his stroke that also has loft present. As of this writing, Goodwin is slashing .281/.415/.532 over 183 PA’s after posting a .255/.354/.525 line in 2022 at Kansas State.
Here’s a video of his first homer of the weekend from the series against the Jayhawks:
Defensive Notes:
At Kansas State, Goodwin has seen the most time by far at the shortstop position, with a handful of games at 2B and one at 3B sprinkled in. His arm which is above-average is enough to handle shortstop, but his lateral range ability and hands look better suited for the keystone or hot corner positions at the professional level.
There’s very little doubt in my mind that Goodwin transitions straight to 2B or 3B once he enters the pro ranks, and I think his defensive ability will be able to shine more at those spots rather than playing a bit over his head on the defensive spectrum at SS.