Despite Individual Honors, Goodwin Focused on Team Success
Feb 13, 2023 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Nick Goodwin sits in the team meeting room at Tointon Family Stadium. It's Kansas State baseball media day. He wears a black Powercat polo. There's no bravado. No boastfulness. You wouldn't know that the junior shortstop has been named a unanimous selection to the 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Team. But that's what Big 12 head coaches think of Goodwin. They voted. They all agreed. Every one of them believed that Goodwin is one of the best in the league.
"I haven't accomplished anything yet," Goodwin says. "I still have to play the season. I'm just trying to stay focused for this spring and we'll see how it plays out in the end."
Yes, this is just the beginning and nobody has done anything yet. K-State begins its fifth season under head coach Pete Hughes on Friday. The Wildcats come off a 29-29 season and an 8-16 mark in the Big 12 with a semifinal appearance in the Big 12 Tournament. The Wildcats begin their season with four games at Stephen F. Austin, then visit Lamar, then face LSU, Sam Houston and Iowa in the Karbach Round Rock Classic in Round Rock, Texas. They open up their season with nine consecutive games on the road.
The Wildcats look to reload after losing several key pieces either to graduation or to the Major League Baseball Draft. They certainly return a steadying force in Goodwin, who has been named a team captain and who bleeds purple.
"The past three years have been the best three years of my life," Goodwin says. "If I could go back in time and do it all over again I would 100%. It's been a lot of fun. I'm certainly looking forward to this upcoming spring."
Goodwin comes off a fantastic summer as well: He was named a Cape Cod League All-Star after he led the league with 21 RBIs and was third with five home runs. This comes after Goodwin earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades as a sophomore last season. He made 57 starts at shortstop, led the team with 48 RBIs and 30 walks, and slashed .255/.354/.525 with 18 doubles, two triples and 11 home runs.
Perhaps no home run was more exciting than when he cranked a go-ahead grand slam, the first of his career, in the eighth inning of a 7-5 win over Baylor on Senior Day at Tointon on May 15. Goodwin remembers the hit. He remembers everything about it. But…
"I don't really know how to explain it," he says. "I kind of blacked out, to be honest. Two strikes, bases loaded, we were down by three, and I was really just trying to put something into play and maybe drive in a run or two. The pitcher, I faced him the night before, and everything was away, fastball was away, and that's what I was looking for. I got the pitch I was looking for, put a good swing on it, and it went out."
Six of Goodwin's 11 home runs were go-ahead shots, including a solo homer against Texas Tech on May 27 at the Big 12 Championship. As the season wore on, he grew stronger. During Big 12 play, he slashed .284/.404/.605 with six doubles, a triple and six home runs while driving in 30.
As Hughes puts it: "Nothing phases him."
"It's 60 feet, six inches, it's 'I have to get a hit off that guy and I have to make every play on the field and I'm going to play as hard as I possibly can each day,'" Hughes says. "You see growth when you have that mindset."
It's been a steady progression for 6-foot-1, 205-pound Goodwin, a native of Overland Park, Kansas, who earned 2021 Freshman All-America honors by Collegiate Baseball after posting a slash line of .277/.355/.482 with 13 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs and 33 runs batted in, tying the program single-season freshman record for home runs and leading the team with 14 stolen bases.
"I've matured a pretty great deal," Goodwin says. "The individual honors don't mean a whole lot to me. I want to win. I want to play in a Regional. That's my main goal this spring."
As for what Goodwin has most worked on during the offseason?
"Everything, really," he says. "The big thing for me was swing and miss, working on my footwork on defense, trying to play fast and get the feet moving a little bit and swinging at pitches I can hit as opposed to chasing pitches."
For all his life, Goodwin has had baseball in his blood.
Goodwin is the son of former Kansas City Royal David Goodwin and the nephew of Mark Goodwin, who played at K-State in the 1980s before signing with the Baltimore Orioles. Goodwin grew up with a baseball in his hand. He was rated the No. 6 overall high school prospect in the state of Kansas after helping St. Thomas Aquinas to the Kansas 5A state championship game.
"First off, my dad has been my biggest role model, obviously, and I'm trying to follow in his footsteps," Goodwin says. "He got me into the game at a very young age. Baseball is all I've known my whole life. I've been playing it since I was 3. It's something I've been working really hard at to become the best I possibly can.
"Hopefully, I have some more time to play the game, so I'd like to play the game as long as I can."
As Goodwin prepares for his junior season, Hughes reflects on the first game of Goodwin's K-State career. It arrived on February 19, 2021 against Oregon State. He went 1-for-2 with one double, two steals and two RBIs.
"It was him, his work ethic, the household where he grew up, and it got him focused on the day he stepped on our campus," Hughes says. "I don't see it often. What I did with Nick his first weekend, Oregon State, which won the national championship the previous year, I think Nick hit two hole. He got the game-winning hit. It was an easy decision because he was ready."
And now Goodwin sits at K-State media day. He is a unanimous selection to the 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Team. And he politely contends that he hasn't proven anything yet. But he carries respect throughout the league. And he comes off a dazzling summer. And he's worked hard. And he's so close to the season opener that he can taste it.
He's ready.
"I'm excited," he says. "I'm just focused and excited to get rolling."
Nick Goodwin sits in the team meeting room at Tointon Family Stadium. It's Kansas State baseball media day. He wears a black Powercat polo. There's no bravado. No boastfulness. You wouldn't know that the junior shortstop has been named a unanimous selection to the 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Team. But that's what Big 12 head coaches think of Goodwin. They voted. They all agreed. Every one of them believed that Goodwin is one of the best in the league.
"I haven't accomplished anything yet," Goodwin says. "I still have to play the season. I'm just trying to stay focused for this spring and we'll see how it plays out in the end."
Yes, this is just the beginning and nobody has done anything yet. K-State begins its fifth season under head coach Pete Hughes on Friday. The Wildcats come off a 29-29 season and an 8-16 mark in the Big 12 with a semifinal appearance in the Big 12 Tournament. The Wildcats begin their season with four games at Stephen F. Austin, then visit Lamar, then face LSU, Sam Houston and Iowa in the Karbach Round Rock Classic in Round Rock, Texas. They open up their season with nine consecutive games on the road.
The Wildcats look to reload after losing several key pieces either to graduation or to the Major League Baseball Draft. They certainly return a steadying force in Goodwin, who has been named a team captain and who bleeds purple.
"The past three years have been the best three years of my life," Goodwin says. "If I could go back in time and do it all over again I would 100%. It's been a lot of fun. I'm certainly looking forward to this upcoming spring."
Goodwin comes off a fantastic summer as well: He was named a Cape Cod League All-Star after he led the league with 21 RBIs and was third with five home runs. This comes after Goodwin earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention accolades as a sophomore last season. He made 57 starts at shortstop, led the team with 48 RBIs and 30 walks, and slashed .255/.354/.525 with 18 doubles, two triples and 11 home runs.
Perhaps no home run was more exciting than when he cranked a go-ahead grand slam, the first of his career, in the eighth inning of a 7-5 win over Baylor on Senior Day at Tointon on May 15. Goodwin remembers the hit. He remembers everything about it. But…
"I don't really know how to explain it," he says. "I kind of blacked out, to be honest. Two strikes, bases loaded, we were down by three, and I was really just trying to put something into play and maybe drive in a run or two. The pitcher, I faced him the night before, and everything was away, fastball was away, and that's what I was looking for. I got the pitch I was looking for, put a good swing on it, and it went out."
Six of Goodwin's 11 home runs were go-ahead shots, including a solo homer against Texas Tech on May 27 at the Big 12 Championship. As the season wore on, he grew stronger. During Big 12 play, he slashed .284/.404/.605 with six doubles, a triple and six home runs while driving in 30.
As Hughes puts it: "Nothing phases him."
"It's 60 feet, six inches, it's 'I have to get a hit off that guy and I have to make every play on the field and I'm going to play as hard as I possibly can each day,'" Hughes says. "You see growth when you have that mindset."
It's been a steady progression for 6-foot-1, 205-pound Goodwin, a native of Overland Park, Kansas, who earned 2021 Freshman All-America honors by Collegiate Baseball after posting a slash line of .277/.355/.482 with 13 doubles, a triple, 10 home runs and 33 runs batted in, tying the program single-season freshman record for home runs and leading the team with 14 stolen bases.
"I've matured a pretty great deal," Goodwin says. "The individual honors don't mean a whole lot to me. I want to win. I want to play in a Regional. That's my main goal this spring."
As for what Goodwin has most worked on during the offseason?
"Everything, really," he says. "The big thing for me was swing and miss, working on my footwork on defense, trying to play fast and get the feet moving a little bit and swinging at pitches I can hit as opposed to chasing pitches."
For all his life, Goodwin has had baseball in his blood.
Goodwin is the son of former Kansas City Royal David Goodwin and the nephew of Mark Goodwin, who played at K-State in the 1980s before signing with the Baltimore Orioles. Goodwin grew up with a baseball in his hand. He was rated the No. 6 overall high school prospect in the state of Kansas after helping St. Thomas Aquinas to the Kansas 5A state championship game.
"First off, my dad has been my biggest role model, obviously, and I'm trying to follow in his footsteps," Goodwin says. "He got me into the game at a very young age. Baseball is all I've known my whole life. I've been playing it since I was 3. It's something I've been working really hard at to become the best I possibly can.
"Hopefully, I have some more time to play the game, so I'd like to play the game as long as I can."
As Goodwin prepares for his junior season, Hughes reflects on the first game of Goodwin's K-State career. It arrived on February 19, 2021 against Oregon State. He went 1-for-2 with one double, two steals and two RBIs.
"It was him, his work ethic, the household where he grew up, and it got him focused on the day he stepped on our campus," Hughes says. "I don't see it often. What I did with Nick his first weekend, Oregon State, which won the national championship the previous year, I think Nick hit two hole. He got the game-winning hit. It was an easy decision because he was ready."
And now Goodwin sits at K-State media day. He is a unanimous selection to the 2023 Preseason All-Big 12 Team. And he politely contends that he hasn't proven anything yet. But he carries respect throughout the league. And he comes off a dazzling summer. And he's worked hard. And he's so close to the season opener that he can taste it.
He's ready.
"I'm excited," he says. "I'm just focused and excited to get rolling."
Players Mentioned
INF
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