He hasn't told A.J. Hinch yet, but Niko Goodrum remembers going into Houston a couple years ago to play the Astros and hearing over and over, 'Detroit has no chance.'
"That right there pisses me off," Goodrum said Tuesday. "Every night I’m trying to get at you. That's the way I play. When someone is crowning or anointing somebody and predicting stuff, I’m just like, how you gonna count me out?"
Goodrum has been fighting public perception his entire career. When he began playing multiple positions, he feels he was labeled a lesser player. In the process, he feels his defense went overlooked. Then last year he became an everyday shortstop for the first time in his career and nearly won a Gold Glove.
In this three years with the Tigers, Goodrum is one of only two players in baseball who's played at least five games at every position on the field other than catcher and pitcher. Only recently has he started to embrace his own talent.
"A lot of people don’t want you to understand how valuable that is because they’re stuck in trying to devalue you as a player," Goodrum said. "Then you’re like, wow, I really don’t see anyone else out here like me, I don’t see anyone on the field that can go from CF to 1B to SS to 3B to LF. You just get to a point of realizing that and not being afraid to vocalize it and embracing what you can do, knowing that at any time I can go over here to one position and be a Gold Glove finalist. Everyone knows now. Everyone saw last year all the things I could do."
What Goodrum couldn't do last year was hit. Not before the end of a shortened season, at least. He finished with a sub-.200 average, a sub-.600 OPS and the third highest strikeout rate in the league. So despite his smooth transition to shortstop, Goodrum lost the starting job to 23-year-old Willi Castro -- because Castro could hit. Now he's trying to win it back.
Goodrum has adjusted his swing from the left side of the plate in an effort to make more contract. He says it feels good. And he has this to say about his numbers from last season.
"People have jobs to write things. I told my dad the other day, 'I played 40 games and they’re writing whatever they want to write like we don’t play 162,'" Goodrum said. "That’s why I don’t read too much into the stuff people write or the things they say. Day in and day out, you know what you’re going to get out of me and I want to leave that in your mind. So when the other team comes on the field, they already know what’s up with me."
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It remains to be seen where Goodrum plays this season for the Tigers. He brought four gloves to camp -- two for the infield, one for the outfield and another for first base -- and on Tuesday he got a shipment of 10 more through his endorsement deal with Wilson. (Must be nice.) For now, he's sticking with his infield glove from last year.
To stick in the lineup, Goodrum will have to show Hinch that 2020 was an offensive fluke, that he's more like the dude who hit .247 with a .745 OPS from 2018-19. Hinch found a consistent role in Houston for utility man Marwin Gonzalez, who appeared in 145 games and played every position other than pitcher and catcher for one of the best teams in baseball in 2018. The same year he hit .247 with a .733 OPS.
"These guys make it look easy," said Hinch. "Fielding a ground ball in the hole on the backhand and throwing it to first and then looking just as natural running down fly balls, and I’m gonna tell you at a moment’s notice to grab a different glove and go do it, there aren’t more than a handful of guys in the entire league that can do that."
Goodrum aced his first impression with Hinch, back in the offseason. In a few words, he conveyed his hunger to improve. And on Tuesday in Lakeland he aced his first impression on the field. After watching Goodrum in a base-running drill, Hinch told him he might be 'the most graceful athlete' on the team.
"It’s going to translate on the field when we get him into games," Hinch said. "He has a positive chip on his shoulder with trying to establish himself as a real dude in this league. I think he’s got that ability to change a game. I love the power, I love the gracefulness. The fact that he can play all over the field is incredibly beneficial to him and to us. He hasn’t given up hope that he’s an everyday shortstop. I know that important to him."
Most important to Goodrum is winning. He's spent the past three seasons losing, and this doesn't feel like the year that will change. For Goodrum, that's fine. Just another chance to prove the critics wrong.
"I’m just here to try to win a championship -- from the jump," he said. "People talk about, a few years. The competitiveness in me, I’m trying to win now."