Exciting Cardinals prospect receives backhanded compliment from rival teams

The winds of change are blowing throughout the Gateway City, as the hiring of Chaim Bloom to lead the St. Louis Cardinals signaled an unofficial franchise reset with the goal of returning the Cardinals to contention within the next few seasons. With the team currently in the throes of a rebuild and committed to a "draft and develop" model, it's paramount that the Cardinals' drafts bear significant fruit down the line.

The 2025 draft, the Cardinals' first under Bloom, was a drastic pivot from the Cardinals' drafts of old, as the team reached for players with plenty of upside early on instead of low-ceiling players who would likely make it to the major leagues but have little chance of developing into stars. Nothing embodied this strategy more than their first pick, when they snagged left-handed pitcher Liam Doyle with the fifth overall selection.

Many Cardinals fans were delighted with the team's choice of Doyle, who some scouts said owns the best fastball among pitchers in the draft class and could rocket through the minor leagues and potentially help the Cardinals as soon as next season. But a recent poll of major league executives might put a damper on fans' enthusiasm for Doyle's future.

Executives around the league pegged Doyle as the best future closer among pitching prospects.

In a poll of more than 40 executives across baseball, Doyle received 29.3% of the votes for "best future closer," handily beating out the second-place finisher, Jarlin Susana, who earned 19.5% of the votes. Doyle took the crown from Jacob Misiorowski, who was the recipient of the top spot for the past two years, tying with Susana in 2025.

It's easy to see why Misiorowski was chosen as a prime closing candidate over the last two seasons, as his triple-digit heat and nasty slider would play up even more in shorter stints. As for Doyle, the article cites his high-effort, unorthodox delivery as a warning flag that could doom his chances of starting in the long term.

Cardinals fans' smiles will undoubtedly get a little tighter when they see this projection for their second-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline. A role at the back of the bullpen isn't the outcome you want for a top-five draft pick, but there could be a silver lining in that his spot on the list signifies how lethal Doyle's arsenal is. When one is mentioned in the same category as Misiorowski, who took the league by storm last season, fans should be excited about what he can bring to the table, particularly the high-octane strikeout stuff that the Cardinals have forgone for years.

Still, while a strong closer is always nice to have, they are generally unnecessary for teams that don't win a lot of games because they won't receive many opportunities to seal victories. If the Cardinals can get back to their winning ways, that may not be an issue, but if the rebuilding process takes longer than expected, Doyle's talents may be rendered moot. The Cardinals saw this to an extent with Ryan Helsley over the past few seasons, where he was among their best players but served more as a luxury than as a required bullpen cog.

With Doyle seen as a prospect on the fast track to the major leagues, the Cardinals may use him out of the bullpen initially for him to get his feet wet at the highest level, but the team's goal should be to place him in the rotation by 2027 (assuming there's a season). In the meantime, the Cardinals' new development staff could work with Doyle on toning down his violent delivery to optimize his likelihood of remaining a starter.

Despite front office executives' relatively lukewarm projection of Doyle's ultimate fate, Bloom's cutting-edge approach when compared with former president of baseball operations John Mozeliak should instill confidence in fans that the Cardinals are in good hands as they attempt claw their way back to relevance. Within the next couple of seasons, Doyle will receive every shot to stick in the rotation and silence his doubters.