Blue Jays Nation’s Pre-Season Prospect Countdown – No. 37: Nick Goodwin

Photo credit:Molly Kaiser/K-State Athletics

5 months ago

You can never have too many left side infielders.

This is Blue Jays Nation’s annual pre-season list, in which I’ll take a look at the top 50 prospects in the organization. We’ll look at the player’s stats, my observations, and other publications’ scouting reports if available.

Let’s take a look at Nick Goodwin

Getting to know Nick Goodwin…

Position: Shortstop/Third base/Second base

Bats: Right

Born: September 6, 2001

Acquired: 7th-round, 2023 draft (Blue Jays)

2023 Team: High-A Vancouver

Previous Ranking: 40

The Blue Jays selected Nick Goodwin with their seventh-round pick in the 2023 draft. He played three seasons at Kansas State University and slashed .273/.369/.505 with 33 homers in 770 plate appearances. Moreover he walked 11.2% of the time while striking out 18.4% of the time.

After being drafted, Goodwin started his professional career with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, slashing .242/.351/.421 with three homers in 114 plate appearances, along with a 7.9 BB% and a 19.3 K% for a 112 wRC+. Goodwin played 15 innings at second, 82.1 innings at third, and 80.2 innings at shortstop.

Towards the end of the minor league season, the Blue Jays promoted Goodwin to High-A Vancouver and helped them win the Northwest League Championship. It was a very small sample size, as Goodwin only had 21 plate appearances and slashed .267/.476/.400 with two doubles and an even amount of walks and strikeouts with five a piece.

Goodwin doesn’t rank on any lists yet, but he was the 163rd-ranked draft prospect according to MLB Pipeline. His bio on that site notes that he’s a power-over-hit player that likes to pull the ball. It’s likely that his defensive home will be second base in the future or as a utilityman.

It’s likely that Goodwin will start the 2024 season with the High-A Canadians once again. With Vancouver, he didn’t play any third base (Cade Doughty had it locked down), but played more second base than shortstop. That may be a precursor of things to come.