- Full name Liam Doyle
- Born 06/03/2004 in
- Profile Ht.: 6'2" / Wt.: 220 / Bats: R / Throws: L
-
Drafted in the 1st round (5th overall) by the St. Louis Cardinals in 2025 (signed for $7,250,000).
View Draft Report
School: Tennessee Drafted/Committed: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 21.1
BA Grade: 55/High
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 6-foot-2, 220-pound lefthander and New Hampshire native has bounced around in college, first at Coastal Carolina in 2023, then at Ole Miss in 2024 and finally Tennessee in 2025. He surged up draft boards by being the most dominant arm in the country, with a 2.91 ERA over 16 regular-season starts and 89.2 innings. His 42.6% strikeout rate was the best mark in Division I. Doyle attacks hitters with a high-effort delivery that features a harsh fall-off to the third base side and looks more like a reliever, but he has pitched as a starter with solid control for three years. His arsenal is centered on a high-usage fastball that sits 95-97 mph and touches 100 with excellent riding life. It’s an easy plus pitch on velocity alone, but the life and the flat approach angle with which he throws it—in addition to his impressive ability to locate it at the top of the zone—makes it a 70-grade offering and one of the best fastballs in the class. Doyle’s secondaries are a bigger question. He throws a low-80s slider, an upper-80s cutter and a mid-80s splitter, all of which earn differing grades depending on whether you talk to scouts or analysts. The latter are more optimistic. Both parties agree that Doyle’s splitter has above-average potential and is his most advanced secondary pitch. Doyle’s outlier fastball traits and SEC dominance have him positioned to be a top 10 overall pick and in the running to be the first arm off the board.
Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Cutter: 50 | Control: 50.
Top Rankings
Organization Prospect Rankings
-
BA Grade/Risk: 60/Average
Adjusted Grade: 50
Track Record: A New Hampshire prep star, Doyle threw five no-hitters and a perfect game over four seasons at Pinkerton Academy. Few players have leveraged the transfer portal as well as Doyle, who spent one season each at Coastal Carolina, Mississippi and Tennessee. As a junior for the Volunteers in 2025, he pitched to a 10-4 record, 3.20 ERA and 164 strikeouts in 95.2 innings and earned first-team All-America honors. The Cardinals drafted him fifth overall and signed him for $7.25 million. Doyle made two appearances after signing.
Scouting Report: Doyle is a physical lefthander with average height but a muscular and athletic frame. His higher-effort operation creates a bit of deception with a longer arm action, low three-quarters arm slot and a crossfire finish. Because of this, he faces relief questions despite a track record of success as a starter. Doyle mixes five pitches in his four-seam fastball, cutter, slider, curveball and splitter. During his time at Tennessee, he threw his fastball more than 62% of the time, something likely to tick down in pro ball. Doyle’s fastball is a double-plus pitch that generated high swinging-strike rates in the SEC. It sits 95-97 mph and touches 100 with plus vertical ride from a low release height. His secondary pitch usage is divided equally between an above-average, mid-to-high-80s splitter, an average cutter, an average sweeper and a low-80s curveball. The splitter is clearly Doyle’s best bat-missing secondary, and development of a dependable breaking ball will be a point of emphasis. He has average control but shows above-average command by landing his pitches to chosen zones with regularity.
The Future: Doyle is a fast-moving college lefthander who could pitch his way to the middle of the Cardinals’ rotation by mid 2026.
Scouting Grades Fastball: 70 | Curveball: 40 | Slider: 50 | Split: 55 | Cutter: 50 | Control: 50.
Draft Prospects
-
School: Tennessee Drafted/Committed: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 21.1
BA Grade: 55/High
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 6-foot-2, 220-pound lefthander and New Hampshire native has bounced around in college, first at Coastal Carolina in 2023, then at Ole Miss in 2024 and finally Tennessee in 2025. He surged up draft boards by being the most dominant arm in the country, with a 2.91 ERA over 16 regular-season starts and 89.2 innings. His 42.6% strikeout rate was the best mark in Division I. Doyle attacks hitters with a high-effort delivery that features a harsh fall-off to the third base side and looks more like a reliever, but he has pitched as a starter with solid control for three years. His arsenal is centered on a high-usage fastball that sits 95-97 mph and touches 100 with excellent riding life. It’s an easy plus pitch on velocity alone, but the life and the flat approach angle with which he throws it—in addition to his impressive ability to locate it at the top of the zone—makes it a 70-grade offering and one of the best fastballs in the class. Doyle’s secondaries are a bigger question. He throws a low-80s slider, an upper-80s cutter and a mid-80s splitter, all of which earn differing grades depending on whether you talk to scouts or analysts. The latter are more optimistic. Both parties agree that Doyle’s splitter has above-average potential and is his most advanced secondary pitch. Doyle’s outlier fastball traits and SEC dominance have him positioned to be a top 10 overall pick and in the running to be the first arm off the board.
Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Cutter: 50 | Control: 50. -
School: Tennessee Committed/Drafted: Never Drafted
Age At Draft: 21.1
BA Grade/Risk: 50/High
Doyle showed well during his lone season at Ole Miss in 2024, where he worked a 5.73 ERA with 84 strikeouts to 21 walks in 55 innings. He transferred to Tennessee for the 2025 season. Doyle has an explosive delivery with no shortage of arm speed, and his best offering is his 92-95 mph fastball that touches 97 and takes on a great shape. His low-80s slider looked like more of a bat-misser this spring, and it flashed plus potential with tight sweeping action.
Scouting Grades Fastball: 60 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 40 | Cutter: 55 | Control: 50
