St. Louis Cardinals first-round draft pick Liam Doyle speaks with the media via Zoom on Sunday, July 13, 2025, after the team selected him in the MLB draft.
After making his debut in professional baseball debut Saturday with Class Low-A Palm Beach, Cardinals prospect Liam Doyle’s next outing could present him with more advanced hitters and a new environment.
Doyle, the lefty the Cardinals selected with the fifth overall pick in July’s MLB Draft, was promoted to Class AA Springfield on Tuesday ahead of its run in the Texas League playoffs. Doyle, 21, joins Springfield’s roster with six games left in the regular season and a week before they open the Texas League Division series.
In previous years, the Cardinals have used late-season promotions to playoff-bound clubs for select prospects as a way to present them with playing in postseason atmospheres.
The Cardinals did so last year when catching prospect Leonardo Bernal and outfielder Chase Davis, who the Cardinals selected in the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft, received promotions from Class High-A Peoria to Class AA ahead of Springfield’s postseason appearance. And in 2023, breakouts Max Rajcic and Edwin Nunez were added to Springfield’s playoff roster after the two pitched in postseason games for Peoria that same season.
Ahead of his addition to Springfield’s roster, Doyle completed 1 2/3 innings in his debut Saturday for Palm Beach. The left-hander allowed one hit, one run, walked two batters, and struck out three in his start. Doyle began the outing by striking out the first batter he faced, looking, on a third strike call that was overturned after it was originally called a ball. Two of his strikeouts came on whiffs on his fastball. The only run Doyle allowed came on a solo home run in the first inning.
The debut outing marked Doyle’s first official game since pitching against Arkansas in early June during the College World Series. Doyle touched 98.4 mph with his fastball during the start for Palm Beach and had a 42% whiff rate with his four-pitch arsenal that includes a changeup, slider, and sinker.
His promotion adds him to a Springfield club that entered Tuesday with a franchise-best 84 wins.