The future looked bright at Kauffman Stadium, at least to White Sox skipper Tony La Russa and pitching coach Ethan Katz, when White Sox draft pick Davis Martin made his major league debut last week.
The 25-year-old righthander had dominated at Texas Tech and nailed an impressive 32.4% strikeout rate at Double-A Birmingham. Martin got the call-up expecting to be bullpen depth, but ended up starting the second game of a doubleheader against the Kansas City Royals.
With some words of advice from teammate Dylan Cease, and Yasmani Grandal guiding him from behind the plate, Martin struck out seven and allowed one run in a solid, five-inning debut.