Former Tennessee baseball star pitcher Liam Doyle is set to make the first outing of his professional career this weekend. According to the Cardinals, he has been transferred to Palm Beach (A). He will compete in his outing on Saturday.
After being selected fifth overall by St. Louis, Doyle was sent to the Cardinals’ Florida Complex League affiliate, where he got adjusted to pro ball. On Saturday, he will throw around two innings, according to CBS. The team’s season concludes on Sunday, so it should be the only outing he makes this season.
Doyle signed with the Cardinals shortly after being drafted for a compensation of $7.25 million. This is an under-slot deal, with the slot valued at just a touch over $8.1 million. Teams can elect to pay draftees at these under-slot values to give them more flexibility to use the money elsewhere. It’s common that there are prior discussions before being selected about whether the player would be willing to sign for certain amounts.
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Doyle just completed his first and only season at Tennessee. He began his career at Coastal Carolina before transferring inside the SEC to play at Ole Miss for one season. He dominated in his lone season with the Vols, being named to the First Team All-SEC squad and taking home SEC Pitcher of the Year.
With the Vols, Doyle notched a 10-4 record, 3.20 ERA and 0.99 WHIP while striking out 164 batters in 95.2 innings pitched. This successful season behind one of the best fastballs in the sport has resulted in a high draft selection. He is the highest pick since Tony Vitello took over the program in 2018.
Vitello was in attendance for Doyle’s selection, as well. He served as a guest analyst on the MLB Network broadcast, giving himself the opportunity to give an instant reaction to the pick.
“However it happened, I love it for him,” Vitello said on Doyle being picked fifth overall. “What a phenomenal kid to be around, and I think he has a bright future on the mound. And here’s one reason why, last year, when he was pitching at Mississippi, he would often just kind of beat himself. Guys wouldn’t really get to him, he would run out of steam because he was flat-out out of shape, and also, he’d run out of pitches… He would run out of pitches because he didn’t throw enough strikes. This year, he loses 19 pounds of body fat, gets to work, gets in shape, throws a ton of strikes.
“Two of the things that showed up this year, oftentimes, other teams had his grips. Just like in pro ball, guys will look for that stuff. The other thing was again, that ‘Boston Strong’ spilled over into a little too strong sometimes. As he continues to evolve and mature, eventually, hitters are just going to have to flat out beat Liam Doyle and that is not going to be very easy to do because he’s got phenomenal stuff and is an unreal competitor.”
