Brenton Edward Doyle (born May 14, 1998) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

center fielder A center fielder, abbreviated CF, is the outfielder in baseball who plays defense in center field – the baseball and softball fielding position between left field and right field. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the ...

for the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.

Amateur career

Doyle was born and grew up in

Warrenton, Virginia Warrenton is a town in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat. The population was 10,057 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an increase from 9,611 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and 6,670 at ...

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 The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is a public senior military college in Lexington, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1839 as America's first state military college and is the oldest public senior military college in the U.S. In k ...

but decommitted late in his senior year. He later signed to play at Division II

Shepherd University Shepherd University is a public university in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In the fall of 2023, the university enrolled 3,274 ...

. Doyle played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Shepherd Rams The Shepherd Rams are the athletic teams that represent Shepherd University (formerly Shepherd College), located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in Division II intercollegiate sports of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The R ...

for three seasons, hitting over .300 in all three seasons. He was named the

Mountain East Conference The Mountain East Conference (MEC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level and officially began competition on September 1, 2013. It consists of 11 schools, m ...

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

drafted Doyle in the fourth round, with the 129th overall selection, of the

2019 Major League Baseball draft The 2019 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks ...

. He received a $500,000 signing bonus. Doyle was assigned to the

Grand Junction Rockies The Grand Junction Jackalopes are an independent baseball team of the Pioneer League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) but is an MLB Partner League. They are located in Grand Junction, Colorado, and play their home games ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and spent most of the year training in

Manassas, Virginia Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of ...

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 The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Co ...

of the

High-A High-A, officially Class High-A, formerly known as Class A-Advanced, and sometimes abbreviated "A+" in writing, is the third-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States and Canada, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A and D ...

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 The Hartford Yard Goats are a Minor League Baseball team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Yard Goats, which play in the Eastern League, are the Double-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. The team was founded in 2016 when the New Britain Ro ...

, appearing in nine games for the Triple-A

Albuquerque Isotopes The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at an ...

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 A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

to protect him from the

Rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

. 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 The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual Fielding (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

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 Nolan James Arenado (; born April 16, 1991) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Arenado is widely recognized as one of the best defensive third basemen of all time. He is ...

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.

References

External links

Shepherd Rams bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Brenton 1998 births Living people Albuquerque Isotopes players 21st-century American sportsmen Baseball players from Virginia Colorado Rockies players Grand Junction Rockies players Hartford Yard Goats players Major League Baseball center fielders People from Warrenton, Virginia Sportspeople from Fauquier County, Virginia Shepherd Rams baseball players Spokane Indians players