Doyle

SHEPHERDSTOWN — With Coach Prime dominating the space on the sports pages and the ever-present Denver Broncos yearning for more and more fans, who would have thought that the state of Colorado and the city of Denver, in particular, liked their Major League baseball so well?

Even with the Rockies “chasing” the world record for losses in a single season, Colorado’s season attendance for the loss-smeared 2025 season was 2,404,613 or 28,356 per home game.

How would the area respond with a competitive team?

It is a question that has not been answered by the Rockies.

Shepherd University’s contribution to the Major League Baseball scene is outfielder Brenton Doyle, who last played for the Rams in the 2019 season.

Doyle turned 27 in May and just completed his third season with the parent Rockies.

Soon after the 2023 and 2024 seasons were complete, Doyle was awarded the National League Gold Glove for centerfielders. The Gold Glove is based exclusively on defense — a player’s range, throwing strength and accuracy, number of putouts and assists and outfield coverage.

This season’s Gold Glove winners won’t be revealed until some time in mid-November. Doyle seems to have real competition this year from the Chicago Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong. .

Doyle’s offensive numbers for the 2025 season show him playing in 138 games and getting 502 official at-bats.

He had 117 hits, scored 57 runs and drove in 57 runs.

Doyle hit 15 home runs, had 23 doubles and two triples.

His speed and complete baseball knowledge allowed him to be successful on 18 steal attempts in only 20 tries.

He did strike out 138 times and finished the season with a .233 batting average.

Colorado has never been in any kind of a pennant race, usually dropping far back in the standings by mid-June.

What would a more competitive team do to foment any pennant fever?

Even though the Rockies have never been close, there has been no slacking in player effort seen — possibly accounting for the favorable crowds even in September.