The White Sox are nearing a deal for Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle, with right-hander Mason Adams and shortstop Carlos Vielma going back to Colorado, according to reports from Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Rosenthal said the trade is in medical review and has not been finalized. Francys Romero of BeisbolFR had previously reported that a deal was close and identified the White Sox as the favorites.
Doyle becomes the latest right-handed hitting outfielder to move at this deadline. Lane Thomas was the first to go when the Royals sent him to the Braves on Saturday, while Taylor Ward and Jo Adell have already landed with the Mariners and Guardians, respectively. A few clubs have also checked in on the Giants’ Heliot Ramos.
At the plate, Doyle has been a much softer target than the other names in that group. He has hit only .214/.287/.282 in 129 plate appearances this season, with one home run and a 32.6% strikeout rate.
His ground-ball rate has climbed to 54.8%, up from 46.2% last year and 41.0% in his stronger 2024 campaign. The one bright spot is a career-best 9.3% walk rate, but that’s about all that’s going right offensively.
That 2024 season is what made Doyle look like such an appealing trade piece. In a little more than 600 plate appearances, he posted a .260/.317/.446 line, hit 23 home runs, stole 30 bases, and struck out 25.4% of the time. His 97 wRC+ showed he was still 3% below league average after accounting for Coors Field, but he was productive enough to matter.
The value came from everywhere else. FanGraphs credited Doyle with 3.6 WAR in 2024, driven mostly by his glove in center field. Defensive Runs Saved had him at +11, Outs Above Average at +14, and Statcast placed his sprint speed and arm value in the 94th percentile or better.
Since then, though, the slide has been steep. Doyle followed that 97 wRC+ with a 65 mark in 2025 and a 48 figure in limited action this year.
He’s also been at -2 DRS in just under 300 innings in center. Injury has played a part, too: he went down in late May with a left oblique contusion, missed the next two months, and only came off the injured list on Friday.
Even with the recent downturn, there’s a clear reason for Chicago to take the shot. Doyle is 28, only two seasons removed from being a solid regular, and he’s affordable at $3.1MM, with $921.6K still owed.
He remains under control through the 2029 season. If he can rediscover the version of himself that paired league-average offense with elite defense, the White Sox will have gotten a useful piece at a manageable cost.
For now, Chicago has Tristan Peters handling center field in 2026, and Peters has given them plenty to like. He’s hitting .267/.325/.417 with a 108 wRC+ in 333 plate appearances, and the defensive numbers are strong as well, with 4 DRS and 8 OAA in just under 700 innings in center. That’s good for 2.5 fWAR after arriving in a cash deal with the Rays in December.
Doyle is not expected to push Peters out of the job. In the short term, he looks more like a defensive reserve and a possible platoon option against left-handed pitching. Peters bats left-handed and has a 112 career wRC+ against right-handers, but only an 8 wRC+ in limited work against southpaws.
For Colorado, the move suggests a willingness to make bigger changes than it has in some recent deadline seasons. The Rockies famously held onto Trevor Story and Jon Gray at the 2021 deadline, then gave Story a qualifying offer after the season. Gray did not receive one and left for the Rangers in free agency without compensation coming back.
Doyle was one of several Rockies drawing interest this month. The club is also taking calls on pitchers Kyle Freeland, Tomoyuki Sugano, Michael Lorenzen, and Antonio Senzatela, along with controllable outfielders Mickey Moniak and Jake McCarthy. Right-hander Seth Halvorsen was sent to the Dodgers a couple of weeks ago, and Doyle would be the first position player to go if this deal is completed.
In Other News...
Rockies Just Turned The Brenton Doyle Deal Into A Bigger Question
The Rockies decision to move Brenton Doyle was already one of the more notable developments of their recent roster churn, and the return only adds another layer to how theyre trying to reshape things. Doyle, a two-time Gold Glove winner, had gone through a difficult season marked by injuries and a low batting average before Colorado dealt the center fielder, signaling a willingness to make a major change even with his defensive value still intact.
In return, Colorado brought in Mason Adams, a right-handed pitcher who was working back from Tommy John surgery and had reached Triple-A Charlotte, along with Venezuelan infield prospect Carlos Vielma, a recent international signee playing in the Dominican Summer League. It is the kind of trade that can look very different a year or two down the road, depending on whether the pitching recovery holds and the young infielder develops, which is what makes the next chapter of this deal worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Rockies Just Made A Brenton Doyle Move Fans Feared
Brenton Doyles name has been a familiar one in Colorado for the wrong reasons this season, with the center fielder battling injuries and trying to find his offensive footing after establishing himself as one of the games best defensive players. A two-time Gold Glove winner, Doyle was still drawing attention for his range and reliability in center even as his bat lagged behind the level he set earlier in his career.
Now the Rockies are moving on, with Chicago stepping in to add Doyle to a White Sox outfield that needed help on the defensive side. The appeal is obvious from the White Sox perspective: a slick glove in center and the hope that a new environment can get the offense back to where it once was, while Colorado is left to sort out what comes next in the middle of its outfield. [Read more 🡒]