Salem grad Riley Martin has made the next step in his professional baseball career. Martin was added to the Cubs 40 man roster for the upcoming season which will protect him from the Rule 5 draft coming up next month.
Martin, 27, has been a constant in the Iowa Cubs’ bullpen for a pair of seasons, but 2025 might have been his best year. The left-hander posted a 2.69 ERA in 63.2 innings, striking out 80 hitters. The strikeouts are eye-catching, but the left-hander has struggled with walks, posting a 13.4% walk rate, a slight drop from his 16.2% mark in 2024. He provides a left-handed bullpen option for a team that has just Luke Little and Jordan Wicks as lefty options on their 40-man roster.
