St. Louis Cardinals exciting lottery pick set to make professional debut Saturday

With the fifth overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected flamethrowing left-handed starter Liam Doyle out of the University of Tennessee. While there was serious doubt regarding the Cardinals allowing him to throw in a game this fall, the organization just announced he will be making his professional debut on Saturday.

Doyle was just transferred from the Florida Complex League to Low-A Palm Beach, where the Cardinals' top pitching prospect is set to start on Saturday.

Liam Doyle will make his minor league debut for the Cardinals on Saturday

The Cardinals have historically been pretty careful with their pitching prospects, especially ones like Doyle who had large workloads in college the year they were drafted, but the Cardinals are going to give us a glimpse of Doyle on the mound before the minor league season is over.

Doyle's college teammate and fellow 2025 draftee by the Cardinals, Tanner Franklin, has made two starts for the Cardinals organization already, one at Low-A Palm Beach and one for High-A Peoria. Franklin threw just two innings and 2.1 innings in his two starts, so don't expect much more from Doyle in his first outing.

For Doyle, this is a huge opportunity for him to get on a professional mound and test out anything the club has been working with him on before the offseason. With how highly regarded Doyle is, seen by most as a top 50 prospect in the game already, there is a chance he makes it up to St. Louis next year, and this is certainly the first step on that journey.

Doyle's big-time fastball is what has made him such a great prospect, as he consistently sits in the high-90s and can break 100 MPH. If Doyle can continue to refine one or more of his breaking balls or off-speed pitches, he'll be very hard to hit off of at the next level.

This will be an exciting glimpse into the future for Cardinals fans on Saturday. The Cardinals haven't had a fastball like Doyle's in the system for a long time. However many appearances Doyle gets before the winter will likely be the basis that the club uses to implement changes to his game in hopes that he can be a fast riser in 2026.