Davis Martin’s offseason refinement paying off as White Sox’ rotation battle nears conclusion

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It seemed commonplace that White Sox right-hander Davis Martin had teammates Drew Thorpe, Shane Smith, Jonathan Cannon and Sean Burke at his ranch in San Angelo, Texas.

Martin didn’t see the abnormality. To him, he was hanging with his friends at his grandfather’s ranch, where Martin spent much of his childhood working the fences in 100-degree weather.

During the trip with his teammates, his his wife, Jenna, pulled him aside and said, ‘You know these are major-league players, right? You do realize you have four MLB players [at the ranch], and you’re an MLB player.’”

That’s when it clicked for Martin.

“You kind of [have a] big realization of, ‘Oh my gosh, we have come a long way,” Martin told the Sun-Times.

Martin entered this offseason with more certainty than he’s enjoyed throughout his major-league career. He was coming off a career-high 142 ⅔ innings pitched and 25 starts in 2025, and will likely be in the rotation — though manager Will Venable said the team is still “working out” on who will follow after Opening Day starter Shane Smith, but acknowledged that Martin has an important role on the pitching staff.

“[Martin is] somebody guys gravitate to,” Venable said. “He’s come into his own as far as the vocal leadership. He’s a guy we need on the field and in the clubhouse to be at his best.”

That comfort in knowing his role allowed Martin to tailor his offseason work. Instead of tinkering with his arsenal, he sharpened it.

“It was nice to have the freedom to go out and really just refine my arsenal versus having to add a pitch that gets me into the rotation,” he said.

When the offseason began, Martin went to work with PitchingWRX, a data-driven pitching facility in Oklahoma. Martin and PitchingWRX founder and head coach Alex Marney targeted Martin’s lower-body mechanics as an area for improvement.

Marney noticed that when things went awry for Martin it was because of over-rotating, and Marney wanted to work on keeping Martin linear toward the plate so there wasn’t major upper-body rotation.

“[That way] every pitch can have more consistent release angles with everything towards the plate versus just flying open,” Martin said, “because last year, when it was good, it was good. When it was bad, it was bad from a command standpoint.”

Martin said after his start Friday against the Cubs that he was starting to “heat up.” His offseason work with Marney on his mechanics and pitch sequencing was starting to lead to better results.

“[My] mechanics have clicked, usages have clicked …[it’s just about] repetition,” said Martin, who threw four scoreless innings with four strikeouts and zero walks. “Everybody talks about the flow of the game, so just feeling that out again.”

Spring training results mean little in the grand scheme of things, especially in Arizona, where the ball flies. Temperatures are expected to rise to the triple digits in Arizona next week, when Martin is scheduled for his next start. But he’s used to the heat, whether working on his grandfather’s ranch or spending a summer in Arizona throwing live bullpens against Eloy Jimenez and Yoan Moncada. But those days seem far away for Martin.

“I feel like I blinked and I was just 22 trying to figure out how to be a big leaguer,” Martin said. “It’s cool just being around this long. It goes back to 2019 when I had an 8.00 ERA at one point in Low A. I would never have dreamed of getting this far.”