The Cubs will promote left-hander Riley Martin from Triple-A Iowa to their active roster before today’s game with the Guardians, according to Bleacher Nation’s Jacob Zanolla. Martin is likely the corresponding move for Cade Horton‘s forthcoming placement on the 15-day injured list, and no other transaction is needed since Martin is already on Chicago’s 40-man roster.
The 28-year-old Martin will be making his Major League debut whenever he is first used in a game. The southpaw was a sixth-round pick for the Cubs in the 2021 draft, and he has pitched at the Triple-A level in each of the last four seasons. Working almost exclusively as a reliever, Martin has a 3.88 ERA and an impressive 30.67% strikeout rate over 139 1/3 innings in Iowa, but with an inflated 15.57% walk rate. Left-handed Triple-A batters contributed most of that damage, as Martin had significant reverse splits in both 2024 and 2025.
Baseball America ranked Martin 20th on its list of the top 30 Cubs prospects, while MLB Pipeline has the southpaw 28th on their top-30 ranking. He relies almost entirely on a plus curveball that, as per Pipeline’s scouting report, “can be devastating at times and also lose some shape and miss the zone by wide margins at others.” In general, Pipeline’s evaluation feels Martin “trades control for deception” in deploying an upright delivery to maximize the break on his pitches.
Chicago placed Martin on the 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, and the lefty will now take the next step into the big leagues for the first time. Martin has often worked multiple innings out of the pen, giving the Cubs some extra length as they figure out how to manage Horton’s absence. Swingman Colin Rea could be the top candidate for rotation work, Ben Brown is another candidate already on the active roster, or the Cubs might use both pitchers and other arms for a bullpen game or two until Rea is fully stretched out for a starting role.
O-Qua Tangin Wann
Kwa Onsa Lagi Wan
“Look here man, I am trying to save the earth and you are wasting my time with this BS! Now, don’t forget to order your symbols folks!”
“Targzissians are obviously reptilian.”
It’s like a repeat of last year.
Steele went down. Cubs thought they had good depth. Then Shota went down, so they called up Horton sooner than they probably wanted to, but he did well.
Now Horton went down, Edward Cabrera is a ticking time bomb with his forearm injuries from last year, which are almost always a precursor to a future Tommy John surgery. Steele will be back in 6-8 weeks, and Wiggins can come up and be this year’s Horton.
“I was bare knuckle fighting in the ring WHOOPIN MF asses who looked like you”
Well now, uhhhhhh
I gotta give a shout out to my good friend uhhh Willie uhh Fistergash!
A lefty reliever you don’t want pitching to a lefty. A lefty Dillon Maples….
Only in a Cubs article will you see nonsense like this about a Minor League recall. Brings out all the morons.
Woosh
Don’t worry, Uncle. I didn’t get it, too. Whatever it is, I don’t want it.
Yes, apparently it brought you out, unclemike.
A big shoutout to none other than the great Hugh Jassole
Clicked on the article to see if the legend Riley Martin was going to have mentions…I was not disappointed.
I do hope the baseball playing Riley Martin receives some assistance from the Biaviians to have a long and successful career! Maybe he received his symbol, and is on his way to prominence!
It pains me that the Cubs 20th ranked prospect is 28 years old.
I have not found anything in the cosmos that moves me like Earth women.