There was a grim update on left-handed pitcher Riley Martin about a month ago, when the Chicago Cubs were beginning to consider the possibility that Martin would need surgery before the end of the 2026 season. Martin has been out since late April with a left flexor strain, but luckily he has avoided needing surgery on his pitching arm.
The 28-year-old made his MLB debut with the Cubs on April 6, and in eight games, Martin quickly became a fan favorite. It didn’t take much, as fans were desperate to see anyone get positive results out of the bullpen, and Martin was delivering. It made that much more painful when Martin went on the injured list with an arm injury, and you really started to get the idea that the left-handed pitcher might not only miss most of the 2026 season, but also undergo surgery.
That was until Tuesday, when the Cubs announced that Martin is scheduled to make a rehab outing with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A later this week. While it may be too late in the year to have Martin ready to return to the majors, at the very least it appears as though he’s avoided surgery, which would have made his offseason rehab a lot more complicated, considering that we’re headed to a lockout that would mean Martin would be cut off from the team’s training staff.
A great sign for Martin, and hopefully he’ll be healthy heading into the offseason with an eye on winning a bullpen spot in 2027.
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(Previous Update)
Tough news this week for rookie pitcher Riley Martin, who will not return to the Chicago Cubs this season. The left-handed reliever, who made his MLB debut back in April, has been sidelined for the last four months because of a flexor strain.
Prior to the team’s road trip, Martin was officially ruled out for the rest of the 2026 season. The more concerning bit of information to keep an eye on heading into the offseason is whether Martin continues to show no signs of meaningful improvement and is forced to undergo surgery to repair the arm injury.
Via Meghan Montemurro.
Left-handed pitcher Riley Martin (flexor strain) won’t return this year. If recovery issues remain, other options will be considered, including surgery, Counsell said.
Martin, 28, was a late bloomer in the Cubs’ minor league system, but he quickly became a fan favorite after he was called up for the first time at the beginning of the regular season. A sixth-round pick out of Quincy University in 2021, Martin made it up to Triple-A by the end of the 2023 season, and the left-hander didn’t get in the mix until this year after he was placed on the 40-man roster after the end of the 2025 season.
During a time when the Cubs’ pitching staff desperately needed anyone to step up, Marin did just that for a few weeks in April. He pitched in eight games and recorded a 2.16 ERA with 10 strikeouts in 8.1 innings.
His final outing came on April 23 against the Philadelphia Phillies, when Martin entered the game after Caleb Thielbar exited with an injury. At the time, the Cubs had pretty much no one else available in the bullpen, and Martin sacrificed his health for the team because he was already feeling the effects of the arm injury, but he remained in the game and got out of the ninth inning, leading to an eventual 8-7 win on a Dansby Swanson walk-off hit in the 10th inning.
A real bummer for Martin, who looked great in a small sample, and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to establish himself as a reliable arm in 2026 for the Cubs because of the injury.
