Cardinals Strike Gold, Select Lefty Flamethrower With No. 5 Pick

There have been questions for weeks about who the St. Louis Cardinals were going to select with the No. 5 pick in the 2025 Major League Baseball Draft.

After plenty of speculation and rumors, St. Louis has its man. The Cardinals selected left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle out of Tennessee, as shared on social media by ESPN's Jeff Passan.

"The St. Louis Cardinals are selecting Tennessee left-hander Liam Doyle with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft," Passan said.

Doyle becomes the Cardinals' highest-selected player in the MLB Draft since taking outfielder J.D. Drew with the No. 5 overall pick in the 1998 MLB Draft. Doyle was ranked as the No. 8 overall prospect in the draft class by MLB.com and specifically was praised for his fastball.

"Doyle's success centers primarily around his fastball, which sat at 91-94 mph during his sophomore season and now operates in the mid-90s and peaks at 100," MLB.com said. "It has been the most untouchable heater in college baseball this year, coming out of a high release point and exploding at the top of the zone, and he topped D-I by finishing 105 strikeouts with the pitch. His 82-85 mph slider has become a solid offering but he leaves it in the middle of the plate too often, which is also an issue with his upper-80s cutter.

"While he throws his fastball nearly two-thirds of the time, Doyle has four effective pitches after switching to using an upper-80s splitter as his changeup. Despite his dominance this spring, there are concerns about his ability to succeed as a starter at the next level because he has an unorthodox delivery and constantly throws with maximum intent. He does provide consistent strikes and has held his stuff deep into games and throughout this season."

In 2025, Doyle logged a 3.20 ERA across 19 games -- including 17 starts -- for Tennessee.