This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Rockies rookie Brenton Doyle is blessed with the size, speed, fearlessness and youth to cover center field at Coors Field. He also has the common sense to ask Charlie Blackmon, an All-Star performer in his younger and healthier days, for advice.

“The biggest thing, especially at Coors, is you can’t coast to balls,” Doyle said. “You’ve got to bust your butt to get there, because they can keep going.”

Well, no need to worry about Doyle going anything less than full tilt. Since being called up on April 24, Doyle, 25, has solidified the position with his all-out defensive style. 

Doyle’s 542 defensive innings in center rank just 20th among center fielders in the Majors. According to Fangraphs, Doyle is tied for sixth in defensive runs saved with five.

Statcast measurements highlight the physical tools that led Colorado to turn the position over to Doyle.

The 2019 fourth-round pick is tied for fifth among center fielders with seven outs above average.

Doyle's 95.2 mph average on the fastest 10 percent of his throws is the highest among center fielders (minimum of 100 throws). 

And the right-handed hitter tops center fielders, and places 11th among all Major League players, on the sprint speed leaderboard at 29.9 feet per second.

Doyle has seven home runs but is experiencing the early end of a learning curve (.204 average and 81 strikeouts in 206 at-bats). But his hunger to change games defensively keeps him in the lineup as he learns.

“It’s being hungry for the ball, wanting the ball to be hit to you,” Doyle said.

Another defensive stat is cool but potentially ominous.

According to Baseball Info Solutions, Doyle has made 16 “sliding, diving and jumping catches.” Among Major League outfielders, Doyle is tied with the Blue Jays’ Daulton Varsho for the third-most in the Majors. The Mets’ Brandon Nimmo (20) and Toronto teammates Kevin Kiermaier (19) and Varsho all have considerably more outfield innings than Doyle.

Again, exciting, but such plays take a toll.

To cover the massive center of his home park, it takes someone like Doyle -- a chiseled athlete listed at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds. And because of the distances and odd flight of the ball, some of the acrobatic plays are unavoidable. But with experience and knowledge, he wants to become efficient enough that he doesn’t have to use all his tools so often.

“Because of his speed, that makes up for a lot,” said Rockies first-base coach Ron Gideon, who works with the outfielders. “But the routes and reading balls off the bat is going to make it that much easier on his body. Coors Field will take a toll on you. Trying to run gap-to-gap is tough to do there.”

Doyle knows the toll playing the outfield can exact. He would have joined the Rockies earlier had he not missed 10 days with a bruised right knee after crashing into the center-field fence at Triple-A Albuquerque -- another park where the ball carries strangely. He emerged with the same injury when he hit the wall at Coors against Miami on May 25 but healed after just two games.

None of this has deterred Doyle.

“His athleticism and his desire to be an elite defender are in place,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “There’s always room for improvement, no matter who you are. [Coors Field is] the biggest space in Major League Baseball. Not only [covering it is] a feather in your cap, but it helps your team.”

Doyle figures he can stay effective and healthy by going at game speed when practicing hours before the game. Often at Coors, and in every road park before the first game of a series, he will run down balls during batting practice.

“I’m a big believer in quality of reps over quantity of reps,” Doyle said. “There are a couple of rounds of BP where I really try to treat it game-like. I take my reads and everything as seriously as I can. Since college and high school, I’ve done that, and it’s really translated to the game.”