Eager to get their top prospect to the majors as quickly as possible, the Angels assigned Goodwin to the double-A El Paso Diablos in the Texas League upon his signing.

He was called up to California in September and had just one hit (off the Kansas City Royals' Steve Busby[5]) in ten at bats.

Playing triple-A ball for the first time in his career in 1977, Goodwin batted .305 with ten home runs & 66 RBIs in half a season with the Salt Lake City Gulls to earn a call back up to the majors in mid-July.

Goodwin returned to the El Paso Diablos for the 1978 season where he excelled, producing an impressive .360 batting average along with 25 home runs and 89 RBIs in 101 games.

Goodwin, who was never a very good fielding catcher, was converted into a first baseman by the Twins (though used primarily as a DH his first two seasons in Minnesota).

After his major and minor league career, he played for the Nankai Hawks in Nippon Professional Baseball in 1986.

[8] In 2011, Goodwin became the first player from a historically black university to be inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.