For Rockies, Brenton Doyle has found some recent pop in his bat
Sep 12, 2023, 5:35 PM | Updated: 5:36 pm
(Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER — It’s not that win-loss results don’t matter to the Colorado Rockies … but the development of prospects like Brenton Doyle remains more relevant. And the opening game of a seven-game homestand showed the dichotomy therein.
The Rockies’ battered bullpen coughed up yet another game. The march to the franchise’s first 100-loss season continued apace.
And yet Doyle, a rookie whose speed and range have made him a plus player in the outfield, continued to show signs of life at the plate that eluded him for much of an up-and-down rookie season.
His average remains below the Mendoza Line headed in to Tuesday, at .190. But a 2-out, 2-RBI single in the bottom of the seventh Monday put the Rockies in front and continued a promising September for Doyle.
“When you come through, it builds confidence,” Rockies manager Bud Black said.
For Doyle, who is now slugging .458 with a .708 OPS in September, it continued a recent, promising burst to give hope that the defensive wizard can provide some pop at the plate, too.
BRENTON DOYLE WORKS TO LOWER STRIKEOUTS
Among the 264 players with at least 300 plate appearances this season, only Mickey Moniak of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim has a worse BB/K rate than Doyle. Doyle’s strikeout rate — .368 heading into Tuesday — is the third-worst among players with at least 300 plate appearances.
And Tuesday’s work for Doyle — and the Rockies’ hopes of a ninth-inning rally — ended with a Doyle swing and miss.
But that was his only strikeout in his last three starts. In that admittedly brief span, he’s 4-for-11 (.364) with a triple, 3 RBI and just one strikeout.
And after entering September with at least one strikeout in 16 consecutive games that he started, he’s avoided whiffs in three of seven games played so far this month.
“He’s got to continue to work on a number of things with his swing, and he’s doing that with our hitting coaches,” Black said Monday. “But that can only help him.”
And if he can figure it out enough to be dependable at the bottom of the order, he’ll have a spot in the Rockies’ long-term plans, because his massive range in Coors Field’s center-field acreage fits the Rockies and their home park like — well, a glove.
That glove will be there for Doyle. If he can turn the bursts into consistency at the plate, an everyday spot will be, too.
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