photo: Liam Doyle (P.J. Maigi/Springfield Cardinals)
Top two prospects in the Cardinals system, a battery assigned to Double-A Springfield, sweep the organizational awards for August 2026.
Springfield Cardinals release
The St. Louis Cardinals announced on Friday that they have chosen LHP Liam Doyle and C Rainiel Rodriguez as their Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Month, respectively, for August 2026. The two Springfield Cardinals are the second and third players selected for monthly awards this season from the parent club, joining LHP Mason Molina who won Pitcher of the Month earlier this year in June.
ABOUT LIAM DOYLE
The southpaw enjoyed the most successful month of his Minor League career in August. Doyle made four starts to a career-best 1.31 ERA and .147 batting average against. He was never charged with more than one earned run in any one start and never surrendered more than four hits. His strikeouts peaked on August 19 in an outing against the Arkansas Travelers, punching out nine batters in five innings of one-run ball.
The first-rounder posted a 6.08 ERA in his first 12 starts of his first full season in the Minors. After that in his final 11 regular season starts, Doyle posted a 1.78 ERA with nearly every metric improving considerably. He finished his first full season in professional baseball with a 7-7 record and 3.76 ERA across 23 starts. He is currently ranked as the number two prospect in the organization and 43 in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline.
ABOUT RAINIEL RODRIGUEZ
Rodriguez was one of the best hitters in all of full-season Minor League Baseball in August, posting a .393 batting average (9th) and a 1.249 OPS (6th) in 21 games. He was tied for the team lead with nine home runs (Jesús Báez) while driving in 22 runs. In back-to-back games, he launched a pair of homers against Arkansas Travelers (August 23) and Wichita Wind Surge (August 25). Rodriguez was tied for or led all Cardinals Minor Leaguers in home runs (tied), extra base hits, average, slugging percentage, OPS, hits and total bases in August. He held a 19-game hit streak throughout the month.
This is second time the now 19-year-old has been selected as the organization’s Minor League Player of the Month, last coming just over a year ago in May of 2025 while in the Florida Complex League. He finished his age 19 regular season as the Texas League batting champion, hitting .328 in 87 games, becoming the fifth batting champion in franchise history (Bryan Torres – .324 in 2024, Thomas Saggese – .318 in 2023, Luke Voit – .297 in 2016, Oscar Taveras – .321 in 2012).
Rodriguez is currently the consensus number one prospect in the organization and is ranked as the 17th best prospect in all of baseball, according the MLB Pipeline.
On Thursday, the Cardinals successfully completed a sweep of the Tulsa Drillers in the Texas League North Division Championship for the second straight season, locking in their position in the Texas League Championship. The team has the opportunity to secure their second straight title at their home ballpark for the first time in franchise history on either Tuesday, September 22 or Wednesday, September 23. Tickets are available at SpringfieldCardinals.com.
TCN’s take
Over two weeks ago, The Cardinal Nation selected Rodriguez and then-Memphis reliever Cade Winquest as our top hitter and pitcher in August.
Review the stats of the winners and runners up in these two articles.
The Cardinal Nation’s August 2026 Pitcher of the Month – Cade Winquest
The Cardinal Nation August 2026 Player of the Month – Rainiel Rodriguez
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