Meet the 15-year-old who called the Royals’ trade for Brett Phillips ... in March
Jeffrey Goodson is a typical 15-year-old kid.
Plays third base, catches and pitches for Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia, Mo., works for his school newspaper and is a reformed Cardinals fan who now roots for the Royals. Salvador Perez is his favorite player.
But Goodson describes himself “kind of weird,” because of one of his hobbies: following Major League Baseball prospects.
“I like looking at MLB’s top prospect list, the Royals’ top prospect list,” Goodson said in a phone interview. “I think I’m pretty much the only one of my friends who actually does that.”
Goodson apparently knows his stuff, because he predicted the Royals would acquire outfielder Brett Phillips from the Brewers four months before it happened. Goodson left a comment on an Instagram post from Phillips during spring training, and it was very specific: “Future royal. See you in July.”
After Phillips hit a home run in Tuesday’s game against the White Sox, Goodson’s mom shared a screenshot of her son’s prediction:
The Royals got Phillips and reliever Jorge Lopez in Friday’s trade that sent third baseman Mike Moustakas to the Brewers.
What prompted Goodson’s belief that the Royals would acquire Phillips?
“Last year when he came up with the Brewers, since I watch a lot of baseball, I’ve kind of kept track of his game,” Goodson said. “I really liked his game and as it went into the offseason and the Winter Meetings, I saw there were some trade rumors with the Royals and Brewers. I thought that would be cool if he got traded to the Royals.
“As it went to spring training, I saw talks kind of start to heat up again. So I saw him post the picture and I was all like ‘future royal, I’ll see you in July.’ I’ve kind of kept track of him during his minor-league years. I just kind of like watching him play.
“I wasn’t expecting Moustakas to be traded to the Brewers, but I knew guys like Whit Merrifield could be moved, Danny Duffy and then at the time Kelvin Herrera when he was still on the Royals. I knew a lot of pieces could go at the deadline.”
Goodson said he would catch Brewers games when he could just to see Phillips.
“He’s not like a Mike Trout or Bryce Harper hitter,” Goodson said, “but I like watching him play defense, because he has an absolute cannon for an arm and he makes some good plays in the outfield. He’s quick on his feet like we saw Sunday when he robbed a home run in New York.”
Phillips saw the tweet from Goodson’s mom and tweeted: “Pretty impressive call right there, any chance I can get the lotto numbers for August?”
Goodson’s response: “hit me with a follow and I can hook you up”
OK, that might be a stretch.
This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 9:40 AM.