DENVER – Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle and his coaches have been slurping the alphabet soup of advanced metrics to the last drop, yet the numbers weren’t adding up.
But Thursday, when he homered in the second inning off Clayton Kershaw for the only run in the Rockies’ 3-1 loss to the Dodgers at Coors Field, the only number that mattered was five.
That is, five toes of the right foot, pointed in the right direction.
We’ll explain.
Statcast has Doyle ranked in the top 25-28 percent of MLB players in barrel and hard-hit rates, and easily in the top 40 percent in cool stats like hard-hit rate and squared-up rate. As for putting balls in play, Doyle’s 25.7 percent strikeout rate before Thursday was just slightly above last year’s 25.4 – when he hit 23 homers in his second season and showed signs of becoming an offensive force.
Yet, Doyle entered Thursday afternoon’s finale of three games against the Dodgers – after spending Wednesday doing pregame work but not playing in the game – batting .194. He hadn’t homered since May 27 at Wrigley Field.
“That’s the frustrating part,” Doyle said. “As much as you want to freak out, get frustrated, panic, whatever, because your average or on-base percentage isn’t where you want it to be, you have to stay the course.
“You have to remind yourself, ‘Hey, you’re hitting the ball hard. You’re just not having much luck.' Sometimes the game requires luck.”
Initially, Rockies hitting coaches Nic Wilson and Jordan Pacheco assured Doyle that, unlike after hitting .203 in his rookie season of 2023, he didn’t need a major mechanical fix. Also, with a chase rate generally lower than the previous two years, the approach didn’t have to change, either.
But when numbers dip like Doyle’s, it helps to be able to focus on something. You have to look real closely, but note that the front of Doyle’s right foot is angled toward the catcher on Thursday’s homer – his sixth of the season:
On this ground-ball double play that ended Tuesday night’s 9-7 loss to the Dodgers, the toes of the right foot are pointed straight ahead.
So why focus on the angle of Doyle’s toes?
Athletes, especially fleet ones like Doyle, naturally toe-in -- or are pigeon-toed in popular culture. Doyle, who per Statcast is in the top five percent of players in sprint speed, Wilson noted, is “neutral.”
It’s all fine until it isn’t. Count Doyle among the players who can fall into a trap when swinging.
“He’s been dealing with controlling his pelvic rotation,” Wilson said.
Usually around professional teams, you have to look to the reporters to find duck-footed folks. But for a hitter like Doyle, who has to battle over-rotating his hips, forcing the toes of the back foot into a sports writer-ish orientation during his batting stance is a good correction.
“I hit the ball consistently pretty hard, so I didn’t want to change anything too major,” Doyle said. “That helps my hips not rotate as fast or as much. That kept me on a slider that I hit off Kershaw pretty well. I’m going to keep using it.”
Wilson said, “It’s a small adjustment that allows him to remain himself without going through any big changes.”
Let’s go back to Statcast and look at Doyle's Quality of Contact -- specifically the rate of topped balls off the bat. Those are the ones pulled on the ground to shortstop and third base, often hard-hit but usually easy outs. With a better base and controlled pelvic rotation, the same swing that has been producing too many grounders can lift the ball to center and left field.
Thursday, someone in the left-field stands ended up with a souvenir.
“Today was the first day of me doing it,” Doyle said of the adjustment. “I got instant feedback, not only hitting the homer but getting the feel of my swing.”