D3 Second Baseman Turned Blue Jays 102 MPH Flamethrower: Meet Colby Martin

DUNEDIN, FL - The Toronto Blue Jays have a pitcher in their farm system who throws 102 MPH. That’s not the crazy part. Until last year, Colby Martin was a Division III second baseman.

A Lititz, Pennsylvania native, Martin bounced around Dlll programs and finally landed at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia where he was an All-American second baseman in 2021. He had always thrown hard, and on occasion was called upon to pitch out of the bullpen, where his fastball was consistently dialing into the upper-90’s.

After missing the 2022 season due to Tommy John Surgery, Martin remained on the infield where he was again an All-American in 2023, but received several more chances to show what he could do on the mound. Although he posted an unsettling 16.20 ERA in three appearances, his natural talent became apparent when he hit 100 MPH for the first time. Word got around about the flamethrowing second baseman.

Martin initially thought it was a practical joke when he received a text from a Philadelphia Phillies scout expressing interest in him as a pitcher. Most DIII players go their whole careers without ever being seen by a pro scout. A pitcher with an 8.68 ERA in just 9.1 career innings? Unheard of.

His raw arm strength secured Martin tryouts with the Phillies, Red Sox, and the Padres, who invited him to a showcase at Petco Park in San Diego. Though lacking experience as a pitcher, he touched 99 MPH in front of some of the team’s top scouting brass.

Hopes of hearing his name called in the 2023 MLB Draft slipped away as rounds one through 20 came and went, but his disappointment didn't last long. The Padres came calling less than 20 minutes after the draft concluded and offered him a free-agent contract as a pitcher. Martin’s dreams of playing professional baseball were about to come true. “You work your whole career just for that single moment,” Martin said of when he received the call from the Padres. “It was pretty awesome.”

He reported to the Padres Peoria, Arizona training facility and introduced himself to his new teammates, got a tour of the facility, met with pitching coaches, and underwent a physical which included an MRI to check on the healing of his UCL after surgery the prior year.

When the Padres told Martin to hold off on participating in team workouts and practices as they awaited his physical results, he didn't think much of it.

But after three days of sweating out the results, on day four Martin was greeted at the door to the clubhouse by a Padres executive who escorted him to a conference room, where he was seated across from several suits from the team’s front office.

Their conversation lasted less than 60 seconds. Martin didn't say a word.

“You're a great kid and a hard worker, but the doctors didn't like the way your MRI looked,” Martin recalls being told. “So we’re not going to sign you… Good luck in the rest of your career.”

Martin was given a copy of his MRI and a plane ticket back to Philadelphia. The high of reporting to Arizona to begin his professional baseball career all came crashing down. Martin ran out of the Padres facility in tears. “I'm not an emotional guy,” Martin admitted. “But as soon as I walked out of the complex I called my Mom and I was just crying… I was defeated.”

He gave an Irish goodbye to his teammates and coaches, and the locker full of Padres gear with a personalized Colby Martin nameplate in front of it, which he’d excitedly snapped pictures of only days prior. “That was the hardest, worst week of my life,” Martin said.

News of Martin’s deal with the Padres made the front page of his hometown and college newspapers. The entire week he’d received congratulatory texts, calls, comments, and tweets flying in from every which way. “I guess embarrassing is like the only word to say,” Martin admitted.

Feeling hopeless, at rock bottom when no other teams came calling, Martin decided to roll the dice and go back to school to improve as a pitcher, and hopefully boost his draft stock for the following year.

With few options, Martin decided to attend Southeastern University (NAIA) in Lakeland, Florida, where for the first time in his baseball life, he would focus solely on pitching. Within weeks, he’d thrown more competitive pitches than he had in his entire career combined. During the spring for Southeastern, he touched 102 MPH on the radar gun, and struck out 31 in 16 frames as a key reliever out of the bullpen with a 4.41 ERA. It was no surprise that his electric fastball once again captured the attention of the scouting world.

The Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the 16th round of the 2024 MLB Draft. Just as he had with the Padres, Martin flew to the Blue Jays Player Development Complex.

The Blue Jays knew about his MRI debacle with the Padres the year prior and had seen the MRI, but wanted to take a look for themselves. It was deja vu all over again as Martin underwent another round of MRI scans on his elbow.

“I was very, very nervous… I was sweating it,” Martin remembered thinking. “I was expecting the worst.”

Unlike his experience in Arizona, he only had to push through one nail-biting day before receiving the results.

The Blue Jays saw no red flags. Martin put pen to paper to mark, after a long, windy road, his career as a professional baseball player officially beginning.

Martin appeared in nine games out of the bullpen for the Blue Jays Class-A affiliate Dunedin Blue Jays in 2024 where he fanned eight batters in 8.2 innings of work but walked 14 with a hit batsman.

Though he entered pro ball with only 25.2 collegiate innings under his belt and was competing against SEC and ACC talent who’d never done anything besides pitch, Martin’s god-given gift of a right arm earned him Dunedin’s closer role out of spring training in 2025.

Now in 2025, Martin has opened the season with nine straight scoreless outings. In 9.1 innings, he’s struck out 12, allowed one hit, and emerged as one of Minor League Baseball’s most dominant relievers.

“I feel amazing. Locked in and confident. I’m in a really good spot,” Martin said. “The more I’m on the mound, the more comfortable I am.”

Martin credits much of his newfound comfort to his throwing partner Javen Coleman, an outgoing lefty from Texas. “He’s gotten me out of my shell,” Martin said.

During Spring Training, Dunedin Manager Gil Kim would call Martin “Two-Way” after watching him dart around the field during batting practice, fielding grounders and shagging fly balls like his old days as an infielder.

“He hasn’t been handed anything,” Kim said. “He’s had to work for everything and that shows in how tough and convicted he is… He put himself on the map.”

"Colby is a diamond in the rough, with a golden arm," said Matt Sanders, who trained Martin this past offseason at Champs Training Facility in PA. "This kid is a once-in-a-generation talent. He's different."

Martin doesn’t go around telling people he throws 102, but he doesn’t have to. “If someone else on this team did it, the whole world would know,” he joked. “But I’m not a big self-promoter. I just let it happen.”

Colby Martin knows how rare his story is. And for the first time, he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be… on the mound.