Gold Glover Doyle turns to a different method to help swing
Thomas Harding
@harding_at_mlbSCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle won a Gold Glove Award last year as a rookie, but a swing that produced a .203 batting average with 35 percent strikeout rate needed help.
But Doyle adopted a new method to address his swing late last season, when he turned to medicine.
Well, a medicine ball.
Doyle struggled with the position of his hands when his swing began. No matter how high or low he carried them, he would drop them at the start of his swing. Notice the quick drop of the hands, from shoulder level to just below the letters of his jersey, before he swings at a third strike from the Blue Jays¡¯ Yusei Kikuchi on Sept. 2, at Coors Field.
So he went to an exercise where he wedged a medicine ball between his hands, his bat, his right shoulder and his head and neck. He would practice just the initial part of the swing. If doing things right, the ball stayed put, which meant the bat barrel was on the right path and, more importantly, his hands and head weren¡¯t moving. It¡¯s difficult to hit a pitch when the object the player swings and point of vision change unnecessarily.
¡°The medicine ball creates connection -- a physical object to know where your barrel is, exactly,¡± said Doyle, who was promoted from Triple-A Albuquerque on April 24. ¡°Sometimes, you think your barrel is somewhere, and you look on video and it¡¯s not right. But in the exercise, if you get disconnected anywhere from Point A [the start-up] to Point B [when the barrel is ready to move forward], the medicine ball will fall out early.¡±
He continued the work through the offseason. Hitting coach Hensley Meulens, Doyle and his winter hitting instructor, Kevin Lachance, had a two-hour Zoom call to start the process. Doyle and Lachance shared a weekly video with Meulens, who clued in assistant hitting coaches Andy Gonz¨¢lez and P.J. Pilittere.
¡°I liked the process and how they stayed in contact,¡± Meulens said. ¡°Hopefully, it will translate into becoming better in games.¡±
Batting practice sessions in Spring Training before the club's first full-squad workout on Tuesday and first game on Friday show Doyle -- who also has gone from a 50-50 weight distribution on his feet to 60-40 weighted to the right leg -- employing a less-pronounced drop at the start of his swing.
¡°Last year, I definitely made a lot of adjustments throughout the season, and I finished on a pretty high note,¡± said Doyle, whose September-October batting average (.261) and on-base percentage (.284) constituted his highest monthly splits in those categories for the season. ¡°I want to carry that into Spring Training and into the season.¡±
Even with all the struggles with his batting average, Doyle showed potential for impactful offense. Of his 81 hits, Doyle knocked 10 home runs, 16 doubles and five triples. He also went 22-for-27 on stolen base attempts. A conceivable Rockies lineup could have on-base proficient Sean Bouchard batting eighth, followed by Doyle, with the two being on base when the lineup swings to leadoff man Charlie Blackmon and second hitter Kris Bryant.
Being on base would allow Doyle to convert one of his key defensive tools, speed, to offense. According to Statcast, Doyle¡¯s 29.9 feet per second sprint speed, putting him in the 98th percentile.
¡°By making my swing a little bit more efficient, I give myself more time to react to what¡¯s coming toward me,¡± Doyle said. ¡°It can put me in the best situation I can to get on base and use my speed.¡±