Liam Doyle’s one season at Tennessee resulted in him being the Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year, a finalist for the prestigious Golden Spikes Award and a top-five draft pick.
Doyle was the fifth selection in Sunday night’s Major League Baseball draft, with the left-hander going to St. Louis. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder from Derry, New Hampshire, became the highest-drafted Volunteers player in the Tony Vitello era and was the first of Tennessee’s four first-round picks Sunday, which set a program record.
“He’s got a bright future on the mound,” said Vitello, who was an analyst on the MLB Network’s coverage of the event being held in Atlanta. “Last year, when he was pitching at Mississippi, he would often kind of beat himself. Guys wouldn’t really get to him. He would run out of steam because he was flat-out out of shape, and he would run out of pitches because he didn’t throw enough strikes.
“This year, he loses 19 pounds of body fat, gets to work, gets in shape and throws a ton of strikes.”
Dole went 10-4 with a 3.20 ERA with the Vols, racking up a staggering 164 strikeouts in 96 innings. His 15.43 strikeouts per nine innings led the nation.