Doyle's fearless play in center evokes HOF legend

This story was excerpted from Manny Randhawa's coverage of Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Ken Griffey Jr., perhaps the greatest home-run thief of all time, not to mention a 10-time Gold Glove Award winner in center field during his Hall of Fame career, has said that the key to making jaw-dropping plays in the outfield is fearlessness.

“That wall ain’t moving,” he told MLB.com in 2023. “So do you have the will to go run into a wall? Because that’s just the way it is.”

Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle, who just won his second Gold Glove Award in as many years in the Major Leagues, has that will. And he’s proven it time and again over his young career.

When it comes to style of play, the risk of injury goes with the territory for Doyle, like it did with Griffey.

“Every single ball that’s hit remotely close to me, I feel like I have a good chance at getting,” Doyle said. “I’ve run into the wall plenty of times and I’ve had a couple of injuries while running into the wall. People ask me all the time, ‘Is this injury going to stop you from playing like you are?’

“And I’m like, ‘Absolutely not.’”

Doyle’s aggressive defense has produced a burgeoning highlight reel for a player who only has two MLB seasons to his name. Take, for example, a play on which he robbed Rangers shortstop Corey Seager of extra bases with a spectacular running grab before hitting the wall at full speed on May 12.

It left a mark. The center-field wall at Coors Field hasn’t been the same since. But while Doyle, who ended up on his back on the warning track, was able to get up and jog off the field no worse for the wear, that hasn’t always been the case.

About a year before that, on May 25, 2023, Doyle slammed into the Coors Field wall while nearly robbing the Marlins’ Jorge Soler of a homer. That time, he had to be carted off the field with a knee injury that would sideline him for three weeks.

“Take it easy!” some might exclaim, especially after Doyle improved dramatically at the plate in 2024. During his rookie campaign in ’23, he posted a .593 OPS in 431 plate appearances. But this past season, he raised that figure by nearly 200 points (.764) while hitting 23 home runs and stealing 30 bases. His bat has become a valuable commodity that needs to be in the lineup every day.

But as Griffey would tell you, it’s just not that simple. There’s a fear involved, but it’s not a fear of injury.

“I had a fear of not doing my job,” Griffey said. “It’s not so much about letting someone else down, but about letting myself down. I’m an outfielder. Everything hit to me is fair.”

Doyle agreed, suggesting that the greater risk is not playing aggressively.

“If you start playing scared, there would be some balls that you probably could catch without running into the wall, but you ease off because you don’t want to run into the wall,” Doyle said. “So I’m gonna keep just playing aggressive. Luckily for me -- knock on wood -- I haven’t had to have a long injury stint from doing anything like running into the wall or making a diving catch.

“But if I have any opportunity to make a really cool play or save some runs and that kind of stuff, I’m gonna risk my body to make a play.”