The White Sox are close to acquiring center fielder Brenton Doyle from the Rockies, according to Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic. Right-hander Mason Adams and shortstop Carlos Vielma are heading to Colorado in return, reports MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Rosenthal adds that the deal is currently in medical review and has not been finalized. An earlier report from Francys Romero of BeisbolFR suggested a trade was imminent and listed the White Sox as favorites.
Doyle is the latest in a string of right-handed hitting outfielders to change teams at this year’s deadline. Lane Thomas, whom the Royals dealt to the Braves on Saturday, was the first domino to fall. Taylor Ward and Jo Adell were the other popular targets, and they’re now heading to the Mariners and Guardians, respectively. A couple of teams have checked on the Giants’ Heliot Ramos as well.
Doyle is several notches below those players at the plate and more of a buy-low pickup than a difference-maker. In 129 plate appearances this year, he’s batting just .214/.287/.282 with a single home run. Doyle is striking out at a 32.6% clip, and 54.8% of his batted balls are on the ground, a marked increase from 46.2% last year and 41.0% in his solid 2024 season. He is walking at a career-best 9.3% rate, but that’s about the only thing going well for him at the dish.
In that 2024 season, Doyle produced a line of .260/.317/.446 in just over 600 plate appearances. He struck out at a more manageable 25.4% clip while showing decent power and speed, including 23 home runs and 30 stolen bases. The end result was a 97 wRC+, indicating that Doyle was 3% below league average when adjusting for Coors Field.
Doyle was still worth 3.6 WAR in 2024 according to FanGraphs’ calculation. That was largely due to his exceptional defense. Both Defensive Runs Saved (+11) and Outs Above Average (+14) saw Doyle as one of the game’s best center fielders that year, while Statcast rated his sprint speed and arm value in the 94th percentile or better.
An excellent defender at a premium position who also hits around league average is always an appealing trade asset. Unfortunately, Doyle’s performance has fallen off dramatically since then. He followed up the 97 wRC+ in 2024 with a mark of 65 in 2025, then 48 in limited action this year. He’s also been worth -2 DRS in just under 300 innings in center. Part of that can be attributed to injury, as Doyle went down for a left oblique contusion in late May and missed the next two months. He just returned from the injured list on Friday.
The recent struggles can’t be ignored, but there’s still some sense in the White Sox taking a chance on Doyle. He’s only 28 years old and just two seasons removed from being a solid regular. He’s playing on an affordable $3.1MM salary, of which $921.6K remains to be paid out, and he can be controlled through the 2029 season. At his best, Doyle is a competent hitter and plays an elite center field, so the Sox are hoping he can get back to that level with a change of scenery and further distance from the oblique injury.
More to come.
