Cubs Reportedly Promoting LHP Riley Martin to MLB

As reported by multiple sources, including MLB.com and former CI staffer Jacob Zanolla, lefty pitching prospect Riley Martin is being called up to fill in for the injured Cade Horton. Martin’s journey has been anything but conventional, as former CI staffer Greg Huss — we might want to try keeping good people — detailed, and he was close to walking away from the game in favor of pharmacy school.

Martin played college ball at Division 2 Quincy University in west-central Illinois, right on the Missouri border, and was throwing in the mid-80s as a junior. COVID canceled his senior season after just four starts, so he opted to pursue a graduate degree before changing his mind and coming back for a fifth season. It’s a good thing he did, because he ended up striking out 152 batters in under 79 innings to catch the Cubs’ attention.

He was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 draft and made it up to Triple-A Iowa in 2023, but he’s been stuck there for quite a while. Until now. His fastball now sits in the mid-90s and touches 98, setting up a slurvy breaking ball he throws as hard as his college fastball. Some of that velo jump came from working in a relief role, which Martin has done almost exclusively since 2022.

His only Triple-A appearance this season was a start, though it lasted only three innings. Assuming Colin Rea slides back into the rotation as a direct replacement for Horton, Martin will take a long-relief role in the bullpen.