Cubs recall Corbin Martin to replace the injured Daniel Palencia in the bullpen

After playing a man short in Friday's blowout win over the Mets, the Chicago Cubs have their replacement for the injured Daniel Palencia.

Corbin Martin, who signed a minor-league deal with Chicago last offseason, gets his first big-league opportunity of the year as Craig Counsell and Tommy Hottovy continue to navigate what's felt like an endless stream of pitching injuries in the early-going.

Martin falls firmly in a familiar bucket we've seen time and time again in recent years. A former first or second-round pick who has always had the stuff, but struggled to get the results. Last year, he made 17 appearances with the Orioles, struggling to a 5.30 FIP and 1.722 WHIP - although he notched 11.5 K/9 in the process.

Cubs and Corbin Martin have quickly explored changing his pitch mix

This year at Iowa, the former Texas A&M talent has made just two appearances, so there's not much to take away from that - and if you just looked at his spring numbers, you're probably screaming into the void knowing he's now a piece of the Cubs' bullpen puzzle. But there's more to it than that.

Almost immediately, the Cubs took Martin's arsenal apart and he made major changes to his approach. This spring, we saw the hard-throwing right-hander pitching from the first-base side of the rubber (he threw from the third-base side last year with Baltimore) and a slighly-tweaked arm angle.

To compliment his best pitch - a mid-90s cutting fastball - he's been working on developing a sinker that would run in against right-handers the same way his change-up does, giving him multiple looks to attack hitters and keep them off-balance. Again, we'll see what he looks like and what he throws when he gets into game action, but he profiles as another 'stuff' guy, a reclamation project the Cubs are hoping can turn into a meaningful contributor over the course of the season.

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