Drafting Liam Doyle represents a change in philosophy for the St. Louis Cardinals

Liam Doyle is many things as a pitcher. He's electric. He's fiery. He has plus stuff. But he certainly doesn't feel like a typical St. Louis Cardinals draft pick.

That's a good thing.

For an organization that has drafted safely for so long, selecting Liam Doyle fifth overall represents that there's a changing of the guard going on behind the scenes. We all knew this would happen with Chaim Bloom nearing his term as the organization's president of baseball operations. Bloom has already brought on a slew of people in the front office to assist him during his regime. It was only a matter of time before the player personnel matched this renovation.

By selecting Liam Doyle in the MLB Draft, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chaim Bloom begin their new regime.

Since 1999, John Mozeliak's first year as scouting director with the organization, the Cardinals have had 44 first-round draft picks. They've selected 24 starting pitchers in the first round during that span. Of those 24 pitchers, only four of them have been left-handed starters: Marco Gonzales, Rob Kaminsky, Zack Thompson, and Cooper Hjerpe.

Each of these pitchers focused primarily on command and control. Gonzales' fastball topped out around 92 MPH. Kaminsky's could touch 95 MPH on occasion, but mainly sat around 92 MPH. Zack Thompson's four-seamer sat in the low 90s as well, and Cooper Hjerpe's fastball sits around 90 MPH after multiple arm surgeries.

High-floor, low-ceiling pitchers have been the Cardinals' specialty over the last two and a half decades of drafting, and it hasn't brought much success at the major-league level. John Mozeliak and his team have drafted well over the years, but they've struggled to draft and develop legitimate aces, particularly in this new era where velocity and strikeouts reign supreme.

Drafting Liam Doyle is an indication of changing times.

For starters, Doyle's fastball was the best in the draft this year. It consistently sat in the mid-90s and would hit triple digits with ease. Of Doyle's 164 strikeouts last year, 105 of them came on his fastball. That's 20 more than the next pitcher. His fastball also generated whiffs on pitches in the zone at a 33.3% rate. Doyle had an overall K rate of 15.65 batters per nine innings in his final year with Tennessee, the highest rate in Division I.

Doyle's fastball isn't his only good pitch, though. He boasts a splitter that averages nearly 87 MPH. It generated chase swings at a 36.4% clip this past year with plus horizontal break.

Not only is Doyle a velocity machine with a plus-plus fastball, but he also has a fire to him that few others do. It's a competitiveness that's reminiscent of Max Scherzer and Lance Lynn.

For an organization that has been buttoned up and professional as any other throughout its storied history, drafting a player with as much energy as Doyle is unprecedented. Doyle's fire was on full display in the Knoxville Regional of the College World Series earlier this year.

In the top of the eighth inning, Doyle was on the mound in relief with a 10-5 lead over Wake Forest. The Wake Forest batter took a timeout, and Doyle took offense to that. He could be seen shouting expletives at the Wake batter.

Doyle took offense to that timeout, and it fired him up even more. He would go on to strike out the batter on the next pitch, a fastball at 99 on the inside corner. The announcer hit the nail on the head when he declared Liam Doyle a madman.

Cardinals scouting director Randy Flores himself spoke of Doyle's future. "There are a range of outcomes of any player, and his range of outcomes includes an extremely high floor. The ceiling is through the roof ... When we saw that he could be in play as the board unfolded, everyone was excited."

Between Doyle's high-octane fastball and his energy on the mound, the effect that Chaim Bloom will have on the organization is beginning to show. No longer will the Cardinals draft safely. They're going to swing for the fences with their draft picks and let their player development team work their magic.