DENVER – Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle experienced a dramatic performance dip. He homered and drove in a career high-tying five runs in an April 10 home victory over the Brewers, but in the 26 games between then and Tuesday night he hit .138.
But Doyle was already in the midst of “small, small changes” to combat the big slump.
During the weekend series in Arizona, Doyle had meetings with manager Warren Schaeffer, who dropped him from the leadoff spot in the order, and hitting coaches Nic Wilson and Jordan Pacheco, who also knew him as a Minor Leaguer. During this past weekend in Arizona, he worked with Rockies manager of performance sciences Brandon Stone to meld the human element with biomechanics.
“I’ve been working pretty hard, trying to get back to where I was last year,” said Doyle, who flashed offensive potential with 23 homers last season. “The past couple days have been pretty good.”
Doyle, who turned 27 last Wednesday, earned Gold Glove Awards each of his first two Major League seasons and has begun his third in similar fashion. While the team’s historic struggles (8-40) have brought and will bring change, there’s a good chance the Rockies won’t waver from including Doyle among the core players. So they need him to demonstrate that he can emerge from slumps.
From the looks of the past couple of nights, all the Rockies’ technology and all their men are moving closer to reassembling Doyle’s swing.
“You’ve got to take little wins, especially when you’re going through it,” Doyle said. “Last night, there were a couple good wins, a lot of good barrels. Not all of them were hits, but that’s just perspective -- you can’t really get mad if you hit a ball pretty hard right at someone.”
Perspective was forced on Doyle, given the mitigating factors before the slump.
After his big game against the Brewers, Doyle was scratched from the first game at San Diego because of left quadriceps soreness. He didn’t play any of those three games, and his participation in the succeeding three-game series at Dodger Stadium amounted to a pinch-hit strikeout in the final game.
Afterward, Doyle went on the bereavement list. Because of injury and the time to be with family, Doyle missed eight of 10 games.
“There’s no hiding that since coming back, I haven’t really been the same player,” Doyle said. “It’s been trying to get back to what was working for me in ‘24.”
One step was moving out of the leadoff spot. His power-speed combination made him a logical candidate following Charlie Blackmon’s retirement, and Doyle embraced the challenge and looked comfortable at season’s start. But Schaeffer watched Doyle go 2-for-12 in three games at Texas, then dropped him to the fifth and sixth spots. Jordan Beck became the leadoff man.
Doyle, who said he was heartened that Schaeffer allowed his feedback before making the move, felt finding proper positioning in the box and his stance was even more important than his place in the order. That’s where lab analysis -- with visuals from the front, the open side and even above -- helped.
“I had lost a little bit of feel,” Doyle said. “There was one part of the swing where I was doing the opposite of what I was doing last year, and that was where I was striding -- I was kind of closing myself off, which wasn’t allowing my hips and upper body to move as fast as last year.”
Wilson, who had worked with Doyle extensively in the Minors, commended Doyle’s openness to a new avenue back to his best swing.
“Feeling good about what you're doing is a big part of hitting,” Wilson said. “You need to feel sexy in the box, and it's getting them back to feeling like himself. It's just an eye opener. And it gives a different lens, other than just what we're seeing.”
Doyle sees himself on his way back.
“It’s easy to get really frustrated and want to break down, but it’s a tough league,” Doyle said. “I’ve had success up here, so I know I can do it. I’ve got to get back to staying confident.”