The Chicago Cubs placed closer Daniel Palencia on the injured list before Friday’s game, and luckily, the team didn’t need to ask too much out of the bullpen because the injury seemingly came out of nowhere. The Cubs didn’t have time to call anyone up prior to the series opener against the New York Mets, but on Saturday, right-handed reliever Corbin Martin was promoted from Triple-A.
Thanks to a ridiculous amount of injuries all happening at once, the Cubs were only down to Charlie Barnes as the lone healthy pitcher remaining on the 40-man roster. However, Cade Horton was officially moved to the 60-day injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery, which opened up a spot for Martin, who was not on the 40-man roster after he was left off the squad coming out of spring training.
The Cubs signed Martin to a minor league contract in the offseason, and he was one of several pitchers in camp trying to earn a spot in the bullpen. Ultimately, none of the minor league signings impressed enough, including Martin, and Ben Brown got the last bullpen role on Opening Day. Yet, after numerous pitching injuries, Martin now joins a group that has changed so much since the start of the season.
Cubs Bullpen on Opening Day
RHP: Ben Brown, Colin Rea, Jacob Webb, Hunter Harvey, Phil Maton, Daniel Palencia
LHP: Hoby Milner, Caleb Thielbar
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Current Cubs Bullpen (April 18)
RHP: Ben Brown, Jacob Webb, Corbin Martin
LHP: Riley Martin, Luke Little, Ryan Rolison, Hoby Milner, Caleb Thielbar
Martin made eight appearances for the Cubs during spring training, and he had six scoreless outings, but in the other two, the right-hander gave up six earned runs in 1.2 innings. He began the year with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A and made his season debut on March 29. He struck out two, walked one, gave up a hit and a run, and then was out with an injury until April 12.
The 30-year-old made his return from the injured list on Tuesday, when Martin tossed a scoreless inning.
When the Cubs signed Martin in the offseason, he was getting compared to Brad Keller, who had an excellent year with the Cubs last year after signing a minor league deal before spring training.
Martin pitched for the Baltimore Orioles in 2025, and similar to Keller, the overall results were poor. Martin made 17 appearances with the Orioles and recorded a 6.00 ERA in 18 innings of work. He broke into the majors with the Houston Astros in 2019, when he made five starts in his first MLB stint.
The right-handed pitcher underwent Tommy John surgery, but as a top-100 prospect heading into 2019, Martin still had plenty of value that allowed the Astros to include him in a trade for Zack Greinke. Martin only pitched in 12 total games with the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2021-22, and missed all of 2023 after having shoulder surgery.
We’ll see if the Cubs found another hidden gem with Martin.
