Why White Sox gamble on Rockies' Gold Glove winner Brenton Doyle could be a good one

In the last hours before the trade deadline, the White Sox acquired Colorado Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle in exchange for prospects Mason Miller and Carlos Vielma. Since the White Sox already had plenty of outfielders on their 26-man roster, this move was unexpected, especially because the team still needed to add a catcher and could've benefited from another starting pitcher.

Brenton Doyle is no joke--he won back-to-back Gold Glove awards in 2023 and 2024. In his 2023 rookie season, Fangraphs gave him a +18 DRS, 13 OAA, and 19 FRV. In 2024, those numbers were +11, +14, and +14, respectively. League average is 0 for all these stats, so Doyle was unquestionably one of the best defensive players in the league for those two seasons.

You can't argue with his defense, and he did have one solid year at the plate in 2024, but overall his hitting has been suspect. He doesn't have the most high-profile origin; in 2019, Doyle was the Rockies 4th round pick, drafted out of Shepard University in West Virginia. That's an NCAA Division II school that hadn't graduated a player to the majors since 1925. In fact, there are now only two current professional athletes that have hailed from that college, with the other being Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent. At the time, he graded well on all metrics, and he did hit very well in college, posting a .392 average and 13 homers in his draft year. And he was solid in minor league ball--he had a 103 wRC+ overall, although he also had a 31.2% strikeout rate (which resulted in just a .287 OBP in Double-A, but his .450 SLG giving him a tolerable .737 OPS at that level).

There were obviously some concerns about his bat, and they turned out to be justified. 2024 was his best year with his bat. He hit 23 home runs and had a .763 OPS, but those numbers are inflated by playing in Colorado; he had just a 97 wRC+ for that year, and it's the only season where he hit anywhere near league average. For his other three major leagues seasons, he had a wRC+ of just 44, 65, and 48 (in 2026).

Doyle's value as an elite defender will be worthwhile regardless of his offense

But center field is a tough position, and a player who is truly elite there can be valuable even without a good bat. And the White Sox clearly believe they can get him closer to his 2024 numbers at the plate.

It helped that Doyle was playing in one of baseball's toughest outfields. It's very hard to be a center fielder when Coors Field is your home park, and Doyle became something of a star for the Rockies even when he was lousy hitter. Doyle used his defense to craft an everyday niche for himself, and when he made such big improvements at the plate in 2024, he seemed like a potential star.

But these past two seasons, Doyle's production, with both his bat and glove, has taken a dip. He used to be a fielding prodigy with some hitting upside; now he's struggling to be a replacement-level player.

In 2025, he had a .651 OPS in 138 games. Fangraphs gave him 0 DRS at center field--exactly league average--although he still had positive numbers for OAA and FRV. There was hope he'd have a bounce back in 2026, when the Rockies hopefully wouldn't be historically bad, and when he'd have longer to build on the better at-bats he had at the tail-end of 2025.

Instead 2026 has been even worse for him. He landed on the injured list in May and didn't return until the end of July. He's hitting .214/.287/.282, with just one home run. Even worse, his defense has been average or below--Fangraphs has him at -2 DRS, 0 OAA, and -1 FRV. Defensive metrics don't always give you a perfect idea of a player's defense, but at the very least, the plummeting numbers show that Doyle hasn't been his usual self in center field.

The Rockies were a historically bad team in 2025 and they haven't been much better in 2026. It's arguably not a great place for a player to rediscover his groove, at least right now. But the White Sox have been successful at taking struggling players, and leveraging their talent. Doyle is unlikely to get everyday playing time for the Sox--they won't bench Peters for him, or Antonacci or Montgomery, for that matter. But he was going to lose playing time to Cole Carrigg anyway, so it's not making a huge difference for him. He'll likely be the primary center fielder against left-handed pitching to start.

Now that he's in Chicago, he'll hopefully get enough innings to recapture some of previous success. The White Sox will hope that a change of scenery and a fresh start with a new team will get him back to his previous success. If he's an above-average center fielder again, that's good enough for a bench player. But he has some potential with his bat as well, and the White Sox might be able to bring that out. He has too much talent to let dry him, so here's hoping the new environment suits him.

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