Yankees star Aaron Judge has high praise for young Rockies player
Aug 27, 2024, 12:19 PM | Updated: 1:59 pm
The best Colorado Rockies player by WAR this season is a young centerfielder who has followed up his Gold Glove rookie year by adding some pop at the plate too.
Brenton Doyle certainly has been a bright spot the past two years for the Rockies amid their horrid seasons and it’s his standout play that’s caught the eye of one of baseball’s biggest stars. Aaron Judge, who will have a solid chance to end his career as a Hall of Famer, talked about a fellow outfielder six years his younger over the weekend.
“What I’ve seen, this guy is a complete player. He plays hard on both sides of the ball. He’s great on the base paths. Just makes things happen. It’s something you can build around,” Judge said during the Yankees series hosting the Rockies.
Aaron Judge called Brenton Doyle someone to build around pic.twitter.com/qKRmpEBTgh
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Doyle was the first primary centerfielder in Rockies history to win the Gold Glove. His dazzling defense has been on display at the expansive Coors Field and to Judge’s point, he’s carried over that quickness to the basepaths for 47 steals in his 252 career games.
At exactly 126 games played in 2024, which matches his total from 2023—Doyle has vastly improved his bat. Last season Doyle hit .203/.250/.343 with 10 home runs and 48 RBI this year he’s at .269/.329/.471 with 21 dingers and 63 driven in. His stats this year have led to a 3.6 fWAR which is not only the best on the Rockies this season but is on pace to easily be the best season for a position player in purple since Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado each had over 6 fWAR seasons in 2019.
Judge also struggled at the plate in his cup of coffee back in 2016, before exploding to a Rookie of the Year and second-place MVP finish in 2017. It was one of three times, including this season, where the Bronx bopper has hit over 50 home runs in a year. Judge hasn’t had a ton of postseason success but he has played with many great position players so a compliment from him, should mean quite a bit to Doyle.
