I wrote a whole column in Sunday’s paper on why the Cardinals should draft lefty Jamie Arnold at No. 5 — but this was because I assumed lefty Liam Doyle surely would’ve been drafted by No. 5.
Instead, the Cards got a pitcher who's better than the guys I thought would be available. This is exciting stuff for the Cardinals, considering how exciting Doyle’s stuff is. The dude can throw 100. And like would have been the case with Arnold, 51ºÚÁÏ got a proven college pitcher who, if things go right, could be on the Busch Stadium mound at some point in 2026.
A lot will be written about Doyle in the coming days and weeks. The Tennessee Volunteer was a monster this past season, accumulating a 15.5 strikeouts-per-nine rate, best in college baseball. But I want to focus on two characteristics that aren’t stat-driven but sure show how much he is driven.
Toughness and intensity.
The man is a maniac.
“On the mound, he kind of puts on a persona,†said Randy Flores, the Cardinals’ assistant general manager and director of scouting.
Watching some videos of Doyle, I saw a modern Al Hrabosky. Shouting and stomping, pumping himself up, pumping his fists. A fiery fireballer.
“We met with him in person,†Flores said, “and talking with him, you'll be like: Wait, wait, where's the screamer? Where’s his intensity? But when you get Chris Carpenter away from a mound, he's also just the nicest human being. You get Adam Wainwright away from the mound, he's the nicest human being. You admire when someone has the ability to flip that switch. You admire it even more when he's doing that at 100 miles an hour.â€
The Carp comp will linger above Liam. Of all places, Doyle is from Carpenter’s native New Hampshire.
As for toughness, the 6-foot-2 Doyle showed it this past season by pitching through pain.
Tennessee’s Liam Doyle pitches during a game against Vanderbilt this past at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. The Cardinals selected Doyle with the No. 5 overall pick Sunday, July 13, 2025, in the MLB draft.
Kate Luffman, Tennessee Athletics
“I'm not sure if you guys have seen or heard,†Flores told reporters here at Busch Stadium during the Cardinals' game vs. the Braves, “but he pitched a chunk of the season with a blister — and not just a blister like your high heels or dress shoes hurt the back of your feet but a finger-deteriorating blister. And he never missed a start. And there are pictures of him with his finger all bloodied up. And he never missed a start, throwing that hard and was able to do what he did late in the season. I think his strength and his toughness and his competitiveness, combined with that engine he has, is something special.â€
Flores said he’s unsure if Doyle, 21, will pitch more this year because of his innings thrown for Tennessee — they’ll discuss this in the coming days. And while it’s hard to gauge where he’ll start 2026, one wants to think if all goes right, he’ll be on the cusp of the majors, if not on the mound in the majors. So drafting Doyle is, in a way, like signing a free agent this winter, too.
I can’t recall the last time I was this excited to see a Cardinals prospect pitch — and to see him carry himself on the mound amid his madness.
51ºÚÁÏ Cardinals assistant general manager Randy Flores speaks with the media on Sunday, July 13, 2025, after the team selected Liam Doyle in the first round of the MLB draft. (Video by Ethan Erickson, Post-Dispatch)
Cardinals pounce on sizzling Tennessee lefty Liam Doyle at No. 5 after MLB draft surprises
The 51ºÚÁÏ Cardinals select Liam Doyle in the MLB draft on Sunday, July 13, 2025.
Derrick Goold, Post-Dispatch
ATLANTA — The Cardinals’ quest for more strikeouts and hunger for more pitching depth led them to a familiar source Sunday night even if they were in an unusual, even unexpected spot.
With their highest pick in a generation, the Cardinals selected Tennessee lefty Liam Doyle at No. 5 overall in the Major League Baseball draft. Long lauded for their run of selecting high-performing pitchers from strong college programs, the Cardinals returned to that pool to select a demonstrative, heat-seeking lefty who led college baseball in strikeout rate.
“It’s a little hard to find 101 (mph) swing-and-miss,†said Randy Flores, the Cardinals’ assistant general manager, helming his 10th draft for the club. “The fact that he’s able to miss bats with a couple of different pitches, really gets good separation on his fastball and split — I think (that) bodes well for his long-term chances to start. ... Acquiring 101 (mph) with that unique fastball profile on the free-agent market is very, very expensive.â€
Doyle, who set the Vols’ single-season strikeout record this past spring, is the Cardinals’ highest pick in the draft since they selected J.D. Drew fifth overall in 1998.
For him to be available at No. 5, the Cardinals needed surprises ahead of them.
The unexpected started from the top. With the first overall pick, the Washington Nationals, who recently dismissed their longtime leader of baseball operations, selected Oklahoma prep shortstop Eli Willits. He and Ethan Holliday, Matt’s son, were considered the top prep infielders available in the draft — and both played their high school ball in Oklahoma. The Cardinals scouted both extensively, and they were tied by many pundits to Willits, the son of former big leaguer Reggie. At 17, Eli was the youngest player in the draft — and the Nats taking him first overall rearranged boards throughout the majors.
The Angels, a team linked to Doyle because of their recent preference for fast movers, offered more drama when they selected UC-Santa Barbara’s Tyler Bremner.
That left one of the top college lefties would be available to the Cardinals at No. 5. The only question would be if Ethan Holliday was still there.
He was not expected to get past the Colorado Rockies at No. 4.
And did not.
The team that chose his father in the seventh round of the 1998 draft picked Ethan and his .611 average in his senior year. That put the Cardinals on the clock.
“I wouldn’t say surprised,†Flores said of Doyle’s availability when asked by reporters at Busch Stadium about the early picks. “There was just so much uncertainty, I think, relative to past years that I remember. It was kind of less unanimous, you know, (with the) top five selections. We really were — I don’t want to say surprised. I think we were prepared. But I think more than any year that I can recall, teams’ boards were probably wildly different.â€
The slot value for pick No. 5 is $8,134,800, and it’s likely Doyle will sign a record bonus for the Cardinals, surpassing last year’s $6.9 million bonus for the Cardinals top pick JJ Wetherholt. The Cardinals also have picks at Nos. 55, 72 and 89 on the first day of the two-day draft.
Tennessee’s Liam Doyle pitches during a game against Vanderbilt this past at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn. The Cardinals selected Doyle with the No. 5 overall pick Sunday, July 13, 2025, in the MLB draft.
Kate Luffman, Tennessee Athletics
Combining Doyle’s selection with Wetherholt, the Cardinals have top 10 picks in consecutive drafts for the first time in their history. Wetherholt led off for the National League in Saturday’s All-Star Futures Game at Truist Field in Atlanta and made his Class AAA debut this past week with a home run and triple in his first game.
With the fastball that sizzles at 99 mph and reaches to 101 mph, Doyle is considered likewise: a quick-riser, pending the Cardinals’ plan with his workload.
The Cardinals lucked into the fifth overall pick due to MLB’s new lottery, and they got access to that high pick despite have a winning record in 2024. They hope that fortune and their selections shape the immediate future of the club, especially as it transitions into new front office leadership.
Born in Boston and raised in New Hampshire, Doyle went 10-4 for the Volunteers with a 3.20 ERA and 164 strikeouts in 95 2/3 innings. Now 21, the lefty struck out 101 more batters than he allowed hits in his junior season. A transfer from Ole Miss who spent one season with Tennessee, Doyle is the highest pick out of the Vols program since DeSmet graduate Tony Vitello took over as head coach before the 2018 season.
“I think he has a bright future on the mound,†Vitello said immediately after the Cardinals’ pick as part of the MLB Network telecast from the Coca-Cola Roxy Theater in Atlanta. “As he continues to evolve and mature, hitters are just going to have to flat-out beat Liam Doyle. That’s not going to be very easy to do because he’s ... an unreal competitor.â€
In his scouting report, Vitello noted that Doyle slimmed down 19 pounds ahead of his junior season with the Vols.
“Gets in shape,†Vitello said. “Throws tons of strikes.â€
The return on the investment to improve his conditioning was a stack of honors. Doyle was a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award. He won the SEC Pitcher of the Year award and was routinely a candidate to win the SEC Pitcher of the Week award. In 19 appearances (17 starts) for the Vols, the lefty had the second-most strikeouts in the country to LSU’s Kade Anderson, the third overall pick to Seattle. Doyle’s 15.4 strikeouts per nine innings was tops in the nation, and he surpassed the Vols’ single-season record by 10 strikeouts.
One week, he struck out a dozen batters against 10th-ranked Vanderbilt.
The next, he struck out 10 against fifth-ranked Arkansas.
Flores referred to the weight loss as part of “a wake-up call†for the lefty and remarked how it was “very forceful to him.â€
That describes him on the mound, too: very forceful. Baseball America’s scouting report for the lefty entering the draft detailed how “when hitters step into the box against Doyle, they know his fastball is coming, but there’s not much they can do about it.†The lefty has a ferocity to his delivery that lead some pundits to see his future as a reliever. Flores said Doyle’s commitment to his fitness “bodes well for his chances to stay a starter.†So, too, does his competitiveness.
Clips of Doyle commanding the mound and shouting to hitters circulated on social media, and one of them had him finishing off an at-bat with a 99 mph fastball the hitter could only watch zip past him.
Doyle then celebrated all the way into the dugout and out of sight.
Flores was asked about that enthusiasm.
“I would rather have fire,†he said, “than tears of sadness and timidness.â€
Post-Dispatch baseball writer Daniel Guerrero and sports intern Quentin Corpuel contributed from 51ºÚÁÏ.
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