Wylie baseball coach Clay Martin has never shied away from playing young players when their talent and performance levels have justified it. 

But in most of the cases you can point to in the past, it was judgment, preference and/or fit driving those decisions, not necessity.

This year was a little bit different for the 26th year Wylie coach, who has more than 600 wins and two state championships on his resume. After graduating the bulk of his pitching talent and depth off last year’s roster, Martin had no choice but to put youth on the mound in 2019.

With a look a look at the stat sheet (where the Bulldogs have a team ERA under 3) or the standings (where they’re 15-7 after claiming a district title in their first season in Class 5A), you wouldn’t know that Martin’s been working with such a young staff. And while certainly pleased with the performance and growth of his team as a whole, even he’s surprised things have gone as smoothly as they have.