DENVER – Rockies loss No. 111 this season – 8-4 to the Marlins on Wednesday night – was rain-delayed, chilly and dim enough that many fans left Coors Field before it was over. But center fielder Brenton Doyle never gives up trying to provide spark.
In the top of the ninth, Doyle caught Dane Myers’ drive just shy of the warning track, and his eyes lit up at a chance that has been rare this season when Graham Pauley tried to take second base. Doyle’s throw beat him for one of few Rockies highlights – and one more reason for runners not to test Doyle.
The last two seasons -- Doyle’s first two in the Majors -- ended with him taking home the National League Gold Glove in center field. Winning this year’s selection – with managers and coaches from each NL team serving as the voting pool – is uncertain.
“It’s definitely creeping into your head this time of year, toward the end of the season,” Doyle said before a recent game. “But I just focus on being where my feet are, and taking it day-by-day.”
Sounds cliché, but it’s more exciting when Doyle’s feet are in the air as they were in Tuesday night’s 6-5 home loss to the Marlins.
He dove to steal a possible hit from Myers in the fourth inning and robbed Myers of a possible homer in the sixth.
On Wednesday morning, Myers expressed on Twitter that he had seen enough of Doyle’s defense.
Doyle played through a nagging quadriceps injury early and dealt with right shoulder soreness after making a diving catch in July. He needed time to grow accustomed to new corner outfielders and briefly had his playing time reduced because of a hitting slump. It cost him in some advanced defensive statistical categories. According to Statcast, Doyle has seven outs above average, well behind the 17 of the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong among center fielders, and he entered Wednesday night at minus-1 in FanGraphs' defensive runs saved.
But Wednesday’s throw gave him six assists from center this season – one fewer than NL center field leaders Jackson Merrill (Padres), Jung Hoo Lee (Giants) and Tyrone Taylor (Mets). And recently he has been a regular on highlight reels.
“I’ve never been a big numbers guy,” Doyle said. “I just play my game and let everything else take care of itself. I don’t think injuries have anything to do with it. I never went to the injured list, so aches and pains are just part of it.
“Sometimes you get a lot of action out there. Sometimes you have long stretches where you don’t get much. And there are certain plays that early in my career, guys would try to run on me. They’re not taking that chance as much.”
During the early part of the season, the biggest risk was Doyle’s own teammates. Left fielder Jordan Beck, listed size at 6-2 and 225 pounds, had some near run-ins with Doyle, listed at 6-3 and 220.
“Early in the year, we were getting in each other’s way, but we have a good system now,” Beck said. “I’m just going to let him take pretty much anything that’s not directly to my left and straight back, because he’s going to be there. I’ve got to trust that he’s going to be there unless he’s way over in the other-side gap before the pitch.”
Watching Doyle cover the outfield – whether as a spectator or, like Beck, a teammate positioned beside him – brings some joy. The Rockies these days don’t have much going for them beyond Doyle’s defensive delights and Mickey Moniak’s career-best three-game homer streak – which he extended with a ninth-inning, second-deck solo shot.
Part of it is the price of having a roster featuring no fewer than nine position players who fall into the category of either rookies or players who are playing regularly in September for the first time in their careers. Add to that a team dealing with struggling pitching, and the Rockies look like club on fumes.
At 27, Doyle – who has struggled with the rest of the team offensively lately, but is hitting .303 since the All-Star break – isn’t a grizzled vet. But he has been around long enough to understand how to grind through a season.
“You learn how to work through those fatigue days,” Doyle said. “This is good experience, especially for the young guys. This is the first time they’ve experienced such a long season. I know it helped me a lot my first year, whether it was learning to take it easy some days or some weeks.”
Hitters, as Myers can attest, just wish Doyle would take it easy on them.