The Rockies Need Brenton Doyle To Build Upon His Strong 2024 Season
After taking big steps to improve at the plate in 2024, Doyle is the most likely leadoff option for Colorado in 2025.

For all of the things that have gone wrong for the Colorado Rockies over the past two seasons, the emergence and growth of Brenton Doyle has been a purple-tinted silver lining at a mile high.
Doyle, selected by the Rockies in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB draft, has not only taken over the challenging center field slot at cavernous Coors Field but has also established himself as one of the game’s top defensive outfielders. Back-to-back Gold Gloves are a testament to just some of the tools that the 26-year-old Doyle brings to the table.
He’s also earned the nickname of the “Colorado Cannon” for one of the ways he can be a weapon for the Rockies in the outfield. He made a throw from center field to home plate in September of 2023 that registered at 105.7 mph, setting a new Statcast era record for a throw from the outfield.
Doyle’s 2024 numbers in the outfield were impressive. He ranked second among all MLB players with an 11.4 Ultimate Zone Rating, a mark that was the highest among center fielders.
Additionally, his 16 Outs Above Average were tied for second among MLB outfielders, while his 14 runs prevented above average (Range) were tied for third.
Throw in the fact that his 11 Defensive Runs Saved were tied for the third-most among MLB center fielders (minimum of 1,000 innings) and that he finished first in MLB with 3.09 putouts per nine, a 3.14 range factor per nine as well as a 2.97 range factor per game, and it’s easy to see why Doyle has set the bar for defense not only in Colorado but around the league as well.
Defense, however, was something Doyle was known for long before he was an everyday player for the Rockies. It was a calling card of his at Division II Shepherd College; he would become the first player from that school in the modern era to step foot on an MLB field when he made his debut on April 24, 2023.
Charles “Lefty” Willis (who played for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1925-27) is the only other MLB player from the school in Shepherdstown, W.V.
Blazing trails is nothing new for Doyle, as our own Renee Dechert pointed out in this article about Doyle’s debut and potential impact with Colorado.
This year, he may once again enter uncharted territory, as manager Bud Black has stated that Doyle will be given every chance to be Colorado’s primary leadoff hitter in 2025, something Doyle has only done in 16 starts so far in his MLB career.
That new position in the batting order is a testament to the confidence Black has developed in Doyle’s abilities at the plate. Last season, Doyle slashed .260/.317/.446 and posted an OPS+ of 104 while leading the club with a 4.0 bWAR (the highest for any Colorado outfielder since Charlie Blackmon’s 5.5 in 2017).
He had 23 home runs on the season, 11 of them coming in July when he logged a torrid .333/.394/.800 slash line in 99 plate appearances on his way to earning National League Player of the Month honors.
However, while Doyle had three months where he batted .276 or higher, there were also three months where his batting average was .223 or less.
While every player will go through cold stretches, if Doyle is going to slide into the leadoff spot for Black, getting on base consistently throughout the year will be an area of growth for the young outfielder in 2025.
The Rockies are keeping an eye on whether the swing adjustments Doyle made last season will continue to pay off in 2025. His 2023 numbers (.203/.250/.343 in 431 plate appearances) are certainly something Doyle and the Rockies want to keep in the past, but this season will likely tell whether Doyle can continue to make adjustments as pitchers adjust to him as well.
Those adjustments last season pushed Doyle’s on-base percentage higher, and when Doyle gets on base, he has already proven that he can be a problem. Last season, Doyle notched 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in 110 games, something that had only been done five times before in Colorado.
He finished the season with 30 steals, helping him become one of just 10 MLB players to have at least 20 home runs, 20 doubles and 30 stolen bases in 2024. That mixture of power and speed has many in Colorado remembering the heyday of Blackmon late last decade when he became a fixture and consistent threat at the leadoff spot.
Black told reporters at the MLB Winter Meetings in December that he hoped to use his players’ speed more in 2025. While not specifically naming Doyle, it’s clear that having his presence on the bases would help Black achieve that vision.
“It sort of goes hand in hand a little bit, but I think I would like to think that we can push the envelope a little bit more in the bases,” Black said in December. “I would like to see us try to steal more, but again, that’s a little scoreboard-dependent. Last year, it was a little bit difficult. I like to push it more there if possible, but again, it’s going to depend on the personnel.”
The Rockies hope that Doyle’s continued trajectory will come at the plate and with his legs. His numbers last season allowed him to become the seventh player in franchise history to have at least two seasons with 25 or more extra-base hits and 20 or more stolen bases. Doyle was the first to do that in consecutive seasons since Trevor Story from 2018-19.
For a Colorado team that will look very similar to 2024’s version, success in the standings will have to come from players who have been in Denver in previous seasons continuing to grow in their craft. More will be asked of Doyle (as well as Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon, among others) to help the Rockies avoid a third-straight 100-loss season.
Can Doyle handle the new role? Last season, he batted just .120 in 13 starts (14 games) when he was inserted as the leadoff batter. However, he believes he can rely on previous experience to guide him into this new role.
“I’m not a stranger to being a leadoff hitter — I hit leadoff quite a bit in my career coming up in the Minor Leagues,” Doyle told MLB.com. “Being a leadoff hitter, to me, says they have confidence in you to get the most at-bats in a game, and try to create some momentum early in the game, as well.
“I try not to treat it much differently than if I was hitting in the three-, four- or five-spot in the lineup. If you try to change your approach too much in the leadoff position, it can come back and bite you a little bit.”
After a successful 2024, all eyes will be on Doyle (likely in a new role and with the new burden of being an offensive leader) to see what the next steps in his already successful career look like in Denver.