The Chicago Cubs added three players to their 40-man roster as they protected a trio of minor leaguers from the upcoming Rule 5 draft. Former second-round pick James Triantos, Double-A infielder Pedro Ramirez and left-handed pitcher Riley Martin are now closer to becoming major leaguers in 2026. While Triantos and Ramirez can provide depth in the infield in case of emergency, it's Martin who may have the most star potential of the three.
Relatively speaking of course as Martin is a left-handed reliever that has pitched at Triple-A for parts of the past three seasons. At 27-years-old, Martin is certainly on the older side of the prospect spectrum, but his results in 2025 are definitely not nothing, especially his strikeout rate that eclipsed 30%.
A sixth round pick in 2021 out of Quincy University, Martin has been a strikeout machine throughout his minor league career, racking up 407 punch outs in 279.2 innings. However, as is the case with a lot prospects who take a little longer than others to reach the majors, Martin has struggled with walks, recording a 14.4 BB% in five minor league seasons.
Those struggles continued even as Martin climbed up the Cubs' minor league system, beginning the 2024 season with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A. The lefty struck out 32.7% of the batters he faced over 60.1 innings in 2024, but he also walked 16.2% of the hitters he pitched to. However, in 2025, Martin was able to make a slight improvement in the walk department, 35 BBs in 63.2 innings, while still recording a 30.7 K% in 47 appearances.
Martin had by far his best season as a pro, recording a 2.69 ERA at Triple-A, and even more encouraging was his walk rate going down to the 10% range during the second half of the season.
Adbert Alzolay, Porter Hodge and Daniel Palencia have all been recent pitchers who have been in the Cubs system with minimal MLB success that have suddenly broken out to become important relievers in the big-league bullpen for at least one year.
It's very much possible that Martin could become the next breakout star in the bullpen coming from the minor leagues for the Cubs in 2026. Now that the left-handed pitcher is on the 40-man roster, Martin has a clearer path to making an impact for the Cubs next season. Here's to hoping that Martin takes advantage of the opportunity.
