A Texas-size steer horn trophy that runs the length of Patrick Anderson’s desk is a showpiece, but rows of stylish shoes in the Springfield skipper’s office are his favorite collectables.
Anderson is tasked with steering the Cardinals to consecutive Texas League championships while herding the development of Liam Doyle, a stoic New England kid turned fiery SEC Pitcher of the Year selected No. 5 overall by St. Louis in the 2025 MLB draft. Anderson the footwear connoisseur saddled up with the left-handed stallion during spring training, and with those goals in mind, a wager was formed.
“I want to give him some cowboy boots for the Texas League,” Anderson said. “You know, be more of a Texas, or southern, type of thing.”
“I don’t know how my parents would feel about that, but we’ll see,” Doyle said. “We made a bet, if it goes his way, I’ll think about getting some…I might (wear them) once, I might.”
Doyle’s debut at Hammons Field on Wednesday night was a mixed bag. He displayed the scorching fastball that generated a 40 percent whiff rate at the University of Tennessee, along with a hard splitter and two pitches under development: a sweeper and curveball. But he didn’t miss many Tulsa bats; the Drillers, a tough assignment for a pitcher with just 3.2 professional innings entering play, tagged Doyle for 8 hits and 4 earned runs over 3 innings and Springfield suffered its first loss of the season.
“No need to overreact about anything, just on to the next start,” Doyle said afterward. “Stuff like that also helps you learn how to take losses like that and bad outings as a professional – you just get to work, and you got five days to turn it around.”
Secondary pitches, like the sweeper and curveball Doyle is working on, may prove the difference between breaking into St. Louis as a starting pitcher or a high-leverage reliever. Doyle worked closely with Uncle Charlie himself when Adam Wainwright visited camp in Jupiter this spring.
Liam Doyle records his first strikeout of the 2026 season for Springfield 🔥#STLCardinals pic.twitter.com/iVWMAfzb7y
— Milb Central (@milb_central) April 8, 2026
“So, I threw those a ton last night – curveball was solid, sweeper still needs a lot of work,” he said. “But, you know, as soon as I feel like I develop those, become a five-pitch guy, become a true professional starter and start really learning how to pitch at a level like this.”
Doyle grew up in the Boston bedroom community of Derry, New Hampshire and led Pinkerton Academy – the high school that produced former St. Louis Blues forward Zach Sanford – to its first state title since 1986 with a 15-strikeout performance in the championship game. Standing 6-foot-2 and weighing 185 pounds, Doyle pitched for Coastal Carolina in 2023 while adding power to his frame.
“I was really undersized when I got to Coastal, I definitely needed to put on more weight and muscle – I probably went a little overboard on what I should have been eating – at that point, I was just a rough thrower. I wasn’t even really a pitcher at that time.”
After a season with Ole Miss, Doyle transferred to Tennessee where he thrived under manager Tony Vitello, a St. Louis native and Mizzou alum that is currently the San Francisco Giants skipper. Doyle’s persona on the mound was captured in the late innings of the 2025 Knoxville Regional final when Wake Forest batter Luke Costello called timeout down 1-2 in the count. Doyle waived off Vitello and his teammates, then painted the inside corner with a 99-mph fastball to catch Costello looking.
“He gets locked in, you know, and people might perceive him differently because of how he gets locked in,” Anderson said. “And our organization embraces what he does and how he does it. We’re just going to fine tune it and see what he’s got – his stuff is electric and I think he might have been, even though he might not say it, but he might have been trying to do a little too much (on Wednesday).”
