Cubs Prospect Riley Martin Caps Three Scoreless Innings in MiLB Clip

Riley Martin’s short highlight, three scoreless innings capped by a swinging strikeout, arrived on MiLB’s feed at a moment that underlines why the Cubs added the lefty to their 40-man roster in November 2025. The clip, labeled February 16, 2026, and shown on the MiLB Highlights page dated February 17, 2026, presents Martin closing an early outing for Triple-A Iowa with a decisive swinging strikeout to end the appearance.

The video item is presented as a short highlight and sits alongside other brief strikeout clips on the MiLB Highlights page, including a 0:09 clip of Jaxon Dalena, a 0:21 clip of Hudson Leach, and a 0:18 clip of Aiden May. The Riley Martin thumbnail and headline read “Riley Martin caps his outing with a strikeout” and the displayed caption notes “Cubs prospect Riley Martin caps three scoreless innings with a strikeout for Triple-A Iowa.”

Martin’s 2025 numbers help explain the attention. He posted a 2.69 ERA with 80 strikeouts and a 1.19 WHIP in Triple-A Iowa, working roughly 63 2/3 innings over 47 appearances. That innings total is sometimes listed as 63.2 in team materials. Cubs site copy also lists “including four saves 45,” with the trailing “45” appearing to be an extraneous artifact in the archived snippet. The strikeout total aligns with a near-31% strikeout rate while Martin’s walk rate remained elevated at 13.4 percent.

Physical profile and development track are straightforward: Martin is a 6-1, 215 lb southpaw from Salem, Illinois who was a sixth-round pick in 2021 out of Division II Quincy University. He has spent the past two seasons pitching out of the bullpen in Triple-A, and his 2025 performance earned him selection to the Cubs’ 40-man roster on November 18, 2025, a move that protected him from the Rule 5 draft and pushed the club’s 40-man count to 32.

Scouting details captured with the roster move reinforce both upside and risk. Martin works a 94 MPH fastball and favors a mid-80s curveball as his primary secondary pitch. The combination produced swing-and-miss ability in 2025 but was accompanied by a higher walk percentage, leaving control as an issue to solve as he pushes toward a big league role.

The MiLB clip is a compact visual reminder of Martin’s swing-and-miss stuff and of the organizational calculus that followed his breakout Triple-A season. Cubs coverage of the roster move noted that the selection signals Martin “may contribute to the major league bullpen in 2026,” and his short highlight for Triple-A Iowa provides a tangible sample of why the club protected him this offseason.