Lincoln Martin figures he’s always been a scout. 

As a baseball player in high school and college, Martin always studied his opponents thoroughly, sizing each player up to determine what he was going to bring to the table. 

That keen eye helped Martin launch an All-American baseball career at Birmingham-Southern, score a pro contract with the Baltimore Orioles organization, spend 11 years as an MLB scout, first with the Houston Astros and later the Miami Marlins. 

But today, Martin is better known as one of the top experts in softball player development. From his facility Top Tier Sports outside of Atlanta, Martin has coached and molded some of the best up and coming softball players in the southeast, Skylar Wallace (Alabama), Savannah Stewart (LSU), Mia Williams (Florida, 2023), and Alexia Carrasquillo (Florida, 2024). 

Martin opened the facility in 2012, at the same time pulling back from scouting, going from full-time with Houston to part-time for Miami. He started with mostly baseball players and a softball player here and there. But under his tutelage, those one or two softball players started performing really well, and word quickly spread.

A self-described learner by nature, as his softball contingent grew, Martin threw himself into researching the sport and its top players.

“I started going out to watch all the high-level softball I could watch because I had to know if what they were doing would translate,” Martin said. “I started understanding what the top of the food chain, from pro to SEC to Pac-12, was and how it looked. I started understanding this is how those guys play, how they move, this is what their tools look like, and then I was able to start transferring that into when I dealt with our kids.”

With every new athlete, Martin starts by developing high-level movement patterns. He analyzes each skill and finds ways to perfect it. But perhaps more importantly, he tries to ignite in his players the desire to dream big and the confidence to believe they can achieve those dreams. 

In his time in the industry, Martin has seen technology rapidly change scouting and player development, and as an ambassador for Blast Motion, he’s at the forefront of the most advanced technology in the sport of softball. 

“Being able to measure things has mattered a lot because you don’t have to guess so much,” Martin said. “You can get numbers to see if a drill is actually affecting the thing that you want. That’s made the training a little bit more reliable, and it also confirms some of the things that we’ve been doing. There’s always a human element to this stuff, but sometimes being able to quantify things matters a lot.”

Martin works closely with Georgia Impact, and Impact 18U’s victory at PGF Nationals over the summer serves as one very high-profile testament to the effectiveness of his training.

“We prepare diligently before we play games,” Martin said. “We go hit earlier in the day, and we face a lot of live arms in BP and simulate what we may face. We practice hitting change-ups and things that are different. So I think our girls adjust and translate that to the game a lot easier.”

The success of Martin’s players is getting noticed outside of the world of club softball as well. In an offseason filled with tumultuous coaching changes at some of the top college programs, multiple athletic directors sought Martin out to gauge his interest in collegiate coaching. Although he admits he’s warming up to the idea, Martin’s not ready to leave his current gig yet. 

Great lesson today . Coach @martin_lincoln . Saucy got a Arsenal of pitches ?? pic.twitter.com/4HBewymf8n

— Alexia Carrasquillo (@alexia_c21) September 26, 2018

“Right now I work with a lot of different teams and people, so I can affect a lot,” Martin said. “From working with [the University of Washington to Oklahoma State to whoever it is that I work with, I have access to way more players across the country that I can affect, versus sometimes being in a position where you can only affect one thing.”

The grind was REAL!!?
Thank you @martin_lincoln pic.twitter.com/3FR17TuWzg

— Mia Williams (@Mommamia2023) December 31, 2017

Martin also feels a sense of responsibility in his player development work, an area of the sport he believes is often handled poorly.

“It’s too much about the instructor and the trainer and too much ego involved,” Martin said. 

"A motto I live by is I don’t want to negatively affect a kid’s dream. My job is inside the cages, so after that, what they do outside is their reward, but I never get in their way. I don’t try to take credit for things that they do. I’m just a piece of the puzzle."

- Lincoln Martin, Top Tier Sports