When the White Sox acquired Brenton Doyle from the Colorado Rockies , some were uneasy about the prospects they traded for him . Come to think of it, Sox fans were uneasy about any prospects being traded, and they didn't even trade that many of them at the deadline.
In any case, Chris Getz decided the defense needed an upgrade, so he turned to Doyle and his two Gold Gloves. At the time, he was seen as a depth piece in a crowded outfield. As long as he could play well in the field, the trade would have been worth it.
But playing the field means you have to hit, too, and Doyle's first 31 games with the Sox were hardly impressive. He hit a paltry .207 and slugged .328 with two home runs and seven RBIs. Only Munetaka Murakami had a worse offensive showing at the time, and Murakami playing every day meant at least a little criticism was deflected away from him.
Getz took a lot of heat for his trade deadline acquisitions being ineffective at best and just plain awful at worst. Again, Doyle didn't take the heat that players like Luis Castillo and Huascar Brazoban did. Still, that didn't fully absolve him.
Over the past week, though, Doyle has looked like a completely different hitter. He's on a seven-game hitting streak, which continued by going 2 for 5 with a solo homer in the Sox's 14-11 win over the Kansas City Royals . That was the first time he had gone deep since Aug. 26, and it accounted for his first RBI during this hitting streak.
Over the course of this streak, Doyle is hitting .370 and slugging .593. While he hasn't quite reached the hitting levels of the more prominent players in the lineup, he's become a tough out, and that's forcing Will Venable to keep running him out there until he cools off.
Doyle has also gotten more opportunities of late, in part, because Tristan Peters was injured during the last series and hasn't gotten a start since. But with Doyle's sudden surge, the Sox are in no hurry to rush Peters back before the playoffs, which is essentially a given for the first time in years.
Doyle will cool off eventually, but the hope is he'll continue to be a serviceable player when that happens. Either way, he's come alive when the Sox have needed him and will be a major reason that they put the finishing touches on a wildly successful season.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/whitesox/onsi as White Sox' Trade for Brenton Doyle Looking Better Thanks to Offensive Boost .
