Biography
Brenton Edward Doyle (born May 14, 1998) is an American professional baseball center fielder for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.
Amateur career
Doyle was born and grew up in Warrenton, Virginia and attended Kettle Run High School. He was named the 3A East Region Player of the Year as junior after batting .443. Doyle initially intended to pursue a career in the military and committed to play college baseball at the Virginia Military Institute but decommitted late in his senior year. He later signed to play at Division II Shepherd University.
Doyle played college baseball for the Shepherd Rams for three seasons, hitting over .300 in all three seasons. He was named the Mountain East Conference Player of the Year in 2018 after hitting .415 with 98 hits, 14 home runs, 16 doubles and 68 RBIs. Doyle repeated as the conference Player of the Year in 2019 after batting .392 with 13 home runs, six triples, 17 doubles and 47 RBIs and 79 runs scored as a junior.
Professional career
The Colorado Rockies drafted Doyle in the fourth round, with the 129th overall selection, of the 2019 Major League Baseball draft. He received a $500,000 signing bonus. Doyle was assigned to the Grand Junction Rockies of the Pioneer League, where he led the league with a .383 batting average with 8 home runs, 33 RBI, and 17 stolen bases. He did not play in a game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the minor league season because of the COVID-19 pandemic and spent most of the year training in Manassas, Virginia at a baseball complex alongside local college players until taking part in the Rockies' fall instructional league.
Doyle was named the best overall athlete in the Rockies' minor league system going into the 2021 season. He was assigned to the Spokane Indians of the High-A West League for 2021, where he batted .279 with 16 home runs, 47 RBIs, and 21 stolen bases in 97 games played and awarded a Minor League Rawlings Gold Glove Award.
Doyle played most of the 2022 season for the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, appearing in nine games for the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes in September. In 132 games, he hit a combined .256/.300/.473 with 26 home runs, 77 RBI, and 23 stolen bases. On November 15, 2022, the Rockies added Doyle to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
Doyle was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque to begin the 2023 season. On April 24, 2023, Doyle was promoted to the major leagues for the first time. He had batted .306/.404/.633 with 5 home runs and 8 RBIs in 12 Triple-A games prior to his promotion. Doyle made his major league debut later that day, starting in center field and going hitless in three at-bats with one walk and one run scored.
On September 2, Doyle made a throw from center field with a speed of 105.7 mph, the fastest throw by a position player since at least 2015. Doyle ended his rookie season hitting .203 with 10 home runs and 22 stolen bases in 126 games while winning a Gold Glove Award in center field.
In 2024, He won his second consecutive Gold Glove. This came following a season in which 11.4 ultimate zone rating (UZR) ranked highest among all MLB center fielders and second-best among all MLB players in 2024. Doyle was worth 16 Outs Above Average (OAA) and 14 Defensive Runs Saved. In addition, he won the Fielding Bible Award for center field. He became the first Rockies defender to win back-to-back Gold Glove Award since Nolan Arenado did so in 2019 and 2020.
For the season, Doyle hit .260/.317/.446 with 23 home runs and 30 stolen bases in 149 games.
He was named the National League Player of the Month for July, after batting .333 with 19 extra base hits.