It’s been a tale of two halves for White Sox pitcher Davis Martin. With a sparkling 1.61 ERA through his first nine starts of the season, he looked well on his way to making the All-Star game. His last 13 starts, however, have been a major struggle. In his last 66 innings, Martin has posted a 6.27 ERA, and his struggles were amplified during a six-run first inning against the Red Sox on Tuesday that essentially took the White Sox out of the game as soon as it began. It was later revealed that Martin was tipping his pitches in the first inning, but it’s the second consecutive outing where Martin pitched poorly in the first inning. Now, the White Sox are faced with a conundrum.
Venable said there were tipping issues with Martin tonight. Martin confirmed and said it was Kyle Teel who identified the issue in game.
— Connor McKnight (@C1McKnight) August 5, 2026
Once Teel started guessing along, he brought it to everyone’s attention. @whitesox
Davis Martin looked like the prime candidate to start game one of a playoff series at the beginning of the year, but now it’s fair to wonder whether the White Sox can trust him in such a position. Martin’s excellent run was never backed up by the numbers, and it always seemed like some regression to the mean was coming, but his fall off has been even more significant than expected as of late. On the bright side, it could mean some better luck is ahead for the final two months. Martin isn’t a bad pitcher– he’s simply a mid-rotation starting pitcher. They’re often inconsistent.
Martin's struggles add to White Sox major starting rotation questions
On one hand, adding a second starting pitcher at the trade deadline would’ve given the team an extra insurance policy for their starting rotation. On the other, it wouldn’t have prevented Tuesday night’s disaster because the addition likely would’ve replaced lefty Noah Schultz in the rotation rather than Martin. But the team’s failure to add another impact starting pitcher leaves them with few options outside of hoping Martin bounces back in his final few weeks.
Since 10 of Martin’s 13 earned runs over his last two starts came in the first inning, one thing the team could consider is having an opener pitch in front of him. The White Sox have been no stranger to this strategy, using it often early in the season for Sean Burke, Erick Fedde, and even Anthony Kay at times. Using an opener, ideally a left-handed one, for Martin would allow him to enter the game against a lower part of the order and ease into his outing rather than facing a team’s top hitters right away.
Between Martin’s recent struggles, the inconsistency of Noah Schultz, and questions about whether the White Sox can correct Luis Castillo’s struggles, the starting pitching staff remains in flux as the team pursues a postseason berth for the first time since 2021. The White Sox had a productive trade deadline and upgraded at several positions, but ultimately failed to go all-in and are taking a big risk given the state of their pitching staff. If the team wants any chance of making some noise in the postseason this year, they’ll need Davis Martin to come back stronger down the stretch. The Red Sox and Yankees are tough opponents, but there won’t be easy opponents in the playoffs.
If the playoffs began today, I’d start Sean Burke, Anthony Kay, and Luis Castillo before turning to Martin in the series. There’s still time for Davis to flip the narrative, but he needs to get things together, and he needs to do it quickly.
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