High School

Top Arkansas Razorbacks recruit Jordan Martin has Missouri buzzing

Arkansas baseball commit putting up huge numbers for Class 5 Jefferson City

Levi Payton

Jefferson City senior standout Jordan Martin (23), an Arkansas baseball recruit and one of the top high school baseball prospects in the state of Missouri, is averaging 32 points per game for the Jays' basketball team this season.
Jefferson City senior standout Jordan Martin (23), an Arkansas baseball recruit and one of the top high school baseball prospects in the state of Missouri, is averaging 32 points per game for the Jays' basketball team this season. / David Smith

His name is Jordan. He’s wears 23. He’s a 6-foot-6 basketball star and his shot is smooth. He’s built like a thoroughbred who can jump out of the gym, and his breakaway dunks send grandparents and children alike jumping out of their seats.

He’s also a baseball player. He has strong ties to the Chicago White Sox. Sometimes, he steps away from basketball to pursue baseball and makes headlines when he does it.

He’s an All-American, a champion and a gold medalist. People debate which sport he should play. They debate which position he should play. Evaluators debate his ability while complete strangers spend money just to watch him play.

Children ask for photos and journalists ask for his time.

Jordan Martin is a star.

Tucked away amongst farmland and the foothills of the Missouri River in mid-Missouri, Jefferson City – population of nearly 45,000 – is hardly the bustling metropolis that its name suggests. It’s roughly one-third the size of its neighbor 20 minutes to the northwest – Columbia, home of the University of Missouri.

Despite that, the state’s Capitol city has become known for producing enough stars that its Wikipedia of “Notable People” has its own page. Actors Cedric the Entertainer and Charlie Weber were born here. Former NFL players Justin Smith, Justin Gage, Sylvester Williams and Don Webb, basketball stars Maya Moore, OG Anunoby, Napheesa Collier and Jamaal Tatum, golfer John Daly, Olympic thrower Christian Cantwell and baseball’s Joe Crede — he’ll come up again — Sam LeCure, Tom Henke and Dennis Higgins —he’ll come up again, too — are just some of the names to claim the town.

Down the road, folks here think they’ve got another. For now, he's still theirs. Pretty soon, the young man who turned 18 on New Year's Eve will be playing baseball with the Arkansas Razorbacks. Beyond that? Wikipedia fame is a possibility.

Some of that belief could stem from the accolades above. Or it could be his averages of 32.1 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.9 steals per game through Dec. 29.

On Dec. 5, he broke Jefferson City's single-game scoring record with 46 points against Battle. The previous mark - tied once in 2021 - had previously stood since 1964. He set the school's all-time scoring record as a junior and has only gotten better as a senior.

But again, maybe it’s the 89-95 miles per hour fastball with a 2,522 RPM spin-rate that helped Team USA's 18U National Team win gold in Panama last summer. In two innings against Puerto Rico he allowed two runs and struck out two before firing a soreless inning of relief against Venezuela.

He's also a slick defender at shortstop with a recorded 90 mph throw to first. His bat has pop, recording a 97.9 mph exit velo, and he can fly - running a 6.67 60-yard dash and recorded a 20.7 mph sprint speed, according to numbers from Prep Baseball Report.

A Perfect Game All-American and member of the 2024 Perfect Game All-American Classic, Martin also performed in the 2024 National Showcase, where his fastball was rated ninth best in the event. As of July 1, 2024, Martin is rated a 10 prospect by Perfect Game - which it defines as a "Potential very high draft pick and/or Elite level college prospect" - and is a member of the 2025 Royals Scout Team.

Whatever it is, this much is true: Martin’s college decision drives the Missouri Tigers fans here nuts – but his play drives them crazy.

COOL

Grasping the top of his head with his hand as he walked through the door of the coach’s room after a big win, Jefferson City basketball coach Ethan Williams had a mellowed question for the fellow staff awaiting his arrival.

“I need Tylenol. Does anyone have a Tylenol?”

It’s hard to blame the Jays’ first-year coach. He’d just stepped off a floor of pandemonium at Jefferson City’s Fleming Fieldhouse after watching his team – led by Martin’s 25 points – erase a 33-24 halftime deficit to beat Tulsa Union in overtime on Dec. 29, to win the championship of the Joe Machens Great 8 Classic.

Jefferson City vs. De Smet: Missouri high school basketball
Averaging a double-double, Martin has the Jays off on a 9-2 start and eyeing a return to the MSHSAA Class 5 state tournament, where they finished as the runner-up to De Smet in 2023-24. / David Smith

Williams couldn’t have been the only one seeking stress relief after the game. It seemed half of the Missouri River town was on hand to witness its newest star in action. Both made their presence felt.

Jefferson City High School is sort of a mini version of the Arkansas campus, sitting on the side of one of the town’s many hills dotted by country landscape.

A glowing view of the Capitol building at night tucked over its shoulder, the school has been here since 1964, but you couldn’t tell. The gymnasium has been modernized but maintains an old-school vibe. They have one of those cool scoreboards that shows you who is in the game and their active points total.

The place is already packed almost an hour before tip of the title game against Tulsa Union and the Jays, unmistakable in their red-striped breakaways, are warming up during halftime of the boys’ third-place game between Montgomery County and Charlotte, Florida.

Spotting Jordan on the floor is not hard. He’s number 23. He’s the guy with the smooth shot who can jump out of the gym. He’s “that dude” that makes everyone around him question who “that dude” is?  

A woman in the crowd spots a reporter’s laptop and leans in, “I’ll bet you’re here to see the Martin kid?”

Bingo. And there was plenty to see and lots to hear.

“He’s pretty good,” one elder fan seated behind the scorers table opined to another seated next to him. He was complimenting one of Tulsa Union’s guards, who had just made a key 3-pointer and finished with 13 points in the game.

“Yeah, but he’s no Martin,” his cohort shot back.

Looking back, you can see why Williams needed that Tylenol. Not because Martin is a theoretical character headache by any means, but because everything Martin creates is loud.

Between the dunks, game-changing moments, rebounds, big shots, headlines, packed crowds, banter and victories, there’s a lot of noise.

Of course, there’s also Martin’s lime green shoes, which were louder than any noise the gymnasium emanated all evening but perhaps aided the impressive vertical he displayed both times he stole a pass, ran three-quarters of the floor and changed the game’s momentum with two-handed dunks to change the outcome.

All joking aside, it is a load of irony to those around him who say Martin is naturally a very quiet, reserved, polite person who is quick with a handshake.

“The thing about him is he’s so quiet and polite. Hardly says a word,” the woman from the crowd tells the reporter. Williams agreed.

“I think what’s so amazing about him is he is an unbelievable person and a talented kid,” Williams said. “You know, as far as basketball, baseball, he’s got everything going on and yet he’s an even better human being.

“He never walks around with any kind of arrogance. You can watch him on the court. His teammates are there hanging all over him.”

When it’s time to work, however, he switches gears.

“He works harder than about any kid that I know, but it’s in silence,” Williams said. “He does so much that you don’t know about. It’s like a random Sunday afternoon and he’ll be like, ‘Hey, can I get in the gym and shoot?’ Or he goes and works with his dad on stuff, or his brother.

“It’s never a ‘look-at-me’ type of thing. It’s always, it’s in the dark. You never know he’s working on stuff, but he always is.”

CALM

Perhaps Martin’s strong support system helps keep him grounded. His family tree is shaped as if someone used Miracle-Gro’s line of “How to Grow An Athlete” to fertilize the thing.

Of course, there are his parents, Jose and Leigh Ann Martin – both of whom were fantastic multi-sport athletes in their own right – and older brothers Brendon and Joseph, who, as older brothers do, have pushed him along the way.

Then there’s his uncles – Leigh Ann’s brothers – Brad, Joe and the late Josh Crede.

Brad – a multi-sport standout at nearby Fatima high and Division II baseball champion at Central Missouri – was drafted twice – by the Baltimore Orioles in 1992 and again by the Philadelphia Phillies in 1996. He spent parts of two seasons in professional baseball with the Phillies, clubbing 18 home runs.

And here come those connections to the White Sox.

Joe Crede was a fifth-round draft pick by the White Sox in 1996 out of Fatima and went on to become an all-star third baseman spanning a 10-year MLB career. Crede spent nine years with the White Sox - winning the 2005 World Series, 2006 American League Silver Slugger Award and being selected to the 2008 MLB American League All-Star team along the way – accumulating 14.7 WAR and 140 home runs before nagging back injuries ended his 10-year career in 2009 at age 31 on the heels of his only season in Minnesota.

Like his brothers, Josh was also a standout amateur in Westphalia – a town of 378 about 10 minutes east of Jefferson City – and was drafted by the White Sox in 2001. An automobile accident sustained in 1999 kept him from joining his brothers on the professional diamond. He passed away in Oct. 2023 from cancer.

Through the Crede connection, Martin is also cousins with late MLB pitcher Dennis Higgins – a Jefferson City native who went 22-23 with a 3.24 ERA in 241 MLB games over parts of seven seasons with the White Sox (1966-67), Washington Senators (1968-69), Cleveland Indians (1970) and St. Louis Cardinals (1971-72). Higgins lived in Jefferson City until passing away at 84 in Nov. 2023.

COLLECTED

But living in an era unlike any of theirs, with a name unlike any of theirs, Martin’s journey – even with their support – will be somewhat of a new experience for everyone. With NIL money changing the landscape of college athletics and the respective professional drafts that accompany them, decisions young athletes and their families make now stand to impact generations.

Martin, however, isn’t feeling those expectations.

“Right now, day by day,” he said of how he balances life. “Right now, I’m focused on playing basketball and getting better and staying on the court, making my teammates better, making me better, and just keep evolving on the basketball court.

“When baseball comes, that will come. We’ll let that happen and see how that plays out. But I think my ultimate goal is just to keep being a better person and being a better teammate.”

Of course, Tigers fans might not be booing that Arkansas decision long. Already highly regarded by scouts and draft prospects ahead of the 2025 MLB Amateur Draft in July, a strong senior campaign on the diamond this spring could see him long gone before ever firing a pitch for skipper Dave Van Horn’s Razorbacks.

If that happens, legendary Razorbacks basketball coach John Calipari might not have to treat Van Horn to a steak dinner to discuss one of his players.

Polite and reserved, Martin smiled before shrugging off the idea and focusing on the pressures ahead.

“I think just growing up, I’ve been in a lot of hard times, just with sports,” Martin said. “And I’ve been put in a lot of uncomfortable positions that have made me just, when times like these come now for me, it’s nothing.

“I think just growing up, traveling with baseball, being in a lot of hard moments while playing a lot in front of people in baseball, I think it just helps you stay mellow and know what to expect. You’ve gotta know what to expect and practice how you play. You just know that people are always watching you and you’ve gotta show them who you are and how you play.”

Credit Jordan’s father, Jose, and his brothers for that approach.

“He’s the guy that keeps me in check all the time,” Jordan Martin said. “He never lets my head get too big. He’s the reason I’m assembled and mellow as I am. He’ll let me know if I’m getting out of my place and doing too much.

“I love my dad for that. And my brothers play a big role. Being the youngest of three brothers, they always pushed me and were hard on me and never, ever took it easy. I think that put the competitive spirit into me.”

That “competitive spirit” has helped the Jays to a 9-2 record to begin the 2024-25 season.

Now, where’s the Tylenol?

Other high school sports news:

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Nation’s No. 1 girls high school basketball recruit Aaliyah Chavez scores 124 points in Caprock Texas Classic

High School On SI's Top 10 Iconic Sports Moments Of 2024

Top 25 Missouri Boys High School Basketball State Rankings (1/1/2025)

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

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