Hunter Goodman’s rise can be explained by a brief history of battered-ball omens.

As an emerging college star at Memphis, Goodman once hit a grand slam in three straight games over a single weekend. The harbingers kept coming in pro ball: 34 dingers across the Class-A levels last year, then a Double-A Hartford-record 25 homers and 78 RBIs this year before getting promoted to Triple-A on Aug. 8 — when the super-utility hit a grand slam in his Isotopes’ debut.

With that power performance, the red-hot Rockies prospect’s promotion to the major leagues could come at any moment. Goodman leads the entire minors with 34 homers, including nine in his first 15 games in Triple-A, and two on Friday.

“He’s got this thing called launch angle figured out,” explained Goodman’s college coach, Daron Schoenrock. “It’s uncanny. That’s what I saw in him as a young hitter — his flyballs went farther than the other top eighth-grader’s flyballs. Even when he was 13 years old playing on a big field, he was driving guys back with routine flies.

“He just has that innate ability to hit for power, and that’s what makes an extremely valuable commodity for the Rockies.”

Goodman’s power is indeed the main reason he’s on the doorstep of the major leagues after Colorado drafted him in the fourth round out of Memphis in 2021.

Primarily a catcher in college, Goodman split time between catcher, first base and designated hitter in 2022, and this summer re-added left field (which he played as a Memphis freshman) and right field to his defensive repertoire as well.

Even with the learning curve of first base, and settling back into the corner outfield spots, the Rockies still see potential in the 23-year-old behind the dish despite the fact that major-league utility players who can catch are a rare commodity.

“I’ve been told to keep working on my catching, so I’m grinding at all those positions to be able to play them the best I can,” Goodman said. “I feel like I’ve done a good job of balancing my work between all of them, and still getting my catching work in. I just want to keep adding value to stay in the lineup as much as possible.”

Back in Goodman’s hometown of Arlington, Tennessee, Goodman’s father, Robert, says there’s been “a lot of fist pumps going on” as the family, who witnessed a couple omens of their own, has live-streamed all of Goodman’s games this year.

Six-year-old Goodman once gave his mom, Stephanie, a bloody nose when the son sizzled a whiffle ball into her face during a front-yard batting-practice session. Even four years before that, Goodman was wearing his dad out in the evenings as a toddler slugger discovering his premium launch angle.

“Back when Hunter was two years old, I had a five-gallon bucket of tennis balls at the house, and when I would get home from work, he would be on the front porch, standing there waiting with his bat next to the bucket,” Robert Goodman recalled. “I would sit there on that bucket and throw those balls overhand to him, and he’d hit, and he’d hit. He’d hit until it was dinner time, and until I couldn’t see anymore.

“That’s all he ever wanted to do — hit.”

Goodman was an accomplished high school player in Arlington, but his early commitment to Memphis as a sophomore coupled with strikeout concerns kept college baseball’s top programs, namely those within the SEC, from offering.

When the draft rolled around in 2021, Goodman was one of the top-ranked college bats on the board, but questions about the validity of his stats at a mid-major and concerns over whether he could be a major league catcher pushed him down to the fourth round.

“His power just exploded after high school,” observed Goodman’s high school coach, Chris Ring. “Everybody saw that. When he did what he did at Memphis, if he put those numbers up at an SEC school, he could’ve been drafted (in the top) of the first round. But (the level of competition) and defensive questions might have given some scouts some pause.”

While at Memphis, Goodman’s relentless work ethic crystallized, a trait that has carried into pro ball where he’s usually one of the first players to arrive at the ballpark each day.

“When he was at Memphis sometimes I’d get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and just out of curiosity, I’d pull up the (family location-sharing) app,” Robert Goodman said. “He’d be at the baseball field at Memphis at 2:30 in the morning, hitting. I’d call him the next day and he’d be like, ‘Dad, don’t worry, I’m just working on my craft.’”

Goodman’s dad was his longtime youth coach and remains the prospect’s baseball mentor. But it’s Stephanie, not Robert, who gave Goodman the launch angle gene.

Stephanie Goodman was a softball star at Freed-Hardeman University in Henderson, Tenn., where she was a three-time all-region selection and the 1997 Trans South Conference player of the year while belting 45 career homers.

“He swings the bat like his momma does,” Robert Goodman said. “She swung it like a grown man, she really did. And she could hammer homers just like Hunter.”

It’s Stephanie’s swing that Goodman’s been summoning in the second half of this summer, after rebounding from a rough June (.207 with two homers and 27 Ks in 24 games) that could’ve sent his season spiraling the opposite direction.

“I can feel the momentum right now,” Goodman said. “The month of June, I struggled, but I locked back in and had a pretty good July, pretty good beginning of August before getting called up. And I’ve been doing pretty well here (in Triple-A), so I’m just trying to keep it going. It’s been a lot of fun. I can feel I’m on the right track.”

Goodman is not on the 40-man, so Rockies will need to make a roster move for him to debut. When he gets to the bigs this year, there are still strikeout concerns to address (25.1% career K rate), which Goodman said includes curbing his chase rate.

Colorado still doesn’t quite know what position the 6-foot, 215-pounder will fit best at within the club’s current young major-league core, but as long as he keeps bombing, that’s a detail that can be ironed out later.

“He’s going to move around a little bit in the majors, and his main position is still to be determined,” Hartford manager Chris DeNorfia said. “But the one thing I know is, he’s going to bring a bat with him.”