Sam Long Returns Home to Sacramento to Face the A’s, Thrilling His Former Coach in the Process .MH

Paul Martinez has seen a lot of baseball, but the long-time high school coach couldn’t wait for Friday night’s Athletics game to start.

Kansas City Royals pitcher Sam Long throws during the ninth inning against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 23, 2025, at Comerica Park in Detroit. Long, born and raised in Fair Oaks and playing for Del Campo High School and Sacramento State, returned to the Sacramento region to face the Athletics this weekend. Brian Bradshaw Sevald Imagn Images

He had the chance to watch his favorite Major League Baseball player: Sam Long, a relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals and native of Fair Oaks.

“Sam’s like family to me,” Martinez said at Sutter Health Park. “I’d do anything for him.”

Martinez left Friday night’s game with mixed emotions. The A’s won 4-3 in the ninth inning on a walk-off double by slugger Shea Langeliers, and Long did not appear in the game.

But Martinez was excited just to have Long back in the area with the Royals in town for the final three games of 2025 season for both teams, neither of which made the playoffs.

He first met Long, 30, when he was a skinny middle schooler who could throw strikes, hit and roam the outfield. Long later played for Martinez at Rosemont High School where he joined the school’s varsity team as a freshman.

“He was a solid player who could help us,” Martinez said. “It was a pretty easy decision at the time.”

After his sophomore season he transferred to Del Campo High School in Fair Oaks where Martinez had moved to coach. Long played one year at the school and won a Sac-Joaquin Section Division II title in 2013. Darrick Blatnick, an assistant coach on the team who also attended Friday night’s game, said Martinez and Long were close even then.

“You could just tell Paul had an expectation,” he said, “and Sam knew exactly what it was.”

Instead of returning for his senior year at Del Campo, Long graduated early to play at Sacramento State. Martinez said he wasn’t in favor of the decision, but that he couldn’t disagree with it now.

“Everything worked out good for him,” he said.

As a freshman, Long was the Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and started in Sacramento State’s first-ever Division I NCAA regional game.

Long played two more seasons for the Hornets before leaving in 2016 after his junior season. He finished his career in the Top 10 in the program’s history in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.

The Tampa Bay Rays took him in the 18th round of the 2016 draft.

‘That’s who he is’

The Rays organization released Long in March 2018.

That summer, he enrolled in an EMT course at Sacramento State. His baseball career looked like it could be over. But midway through the fall semester, he decided he was not ready to give up on his dream to make to the major leagues.

He contacted some of his closest confidants in the game. One of them was Reggie Christiansen, his former coach at Sacramento State. Another was Martinez, who had become the coach at Oakmont High School in Roseville.

Martinez offered to open up the Oakmont baseball facility so Long could throw bullpen sessions and use the weight room.

“That’s who he is,” Long said. “Deep down he’s just a good person, and wants the best for anybody and he saw that I wanted to give it another shot and he respected that and he wanted to help in any way he could.”

A year later he was signed by the Chicago White Sox organization. But he remained in the minor leagues. In November 2020 he signed a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants.

Long struck out the first eight batters he faced in his debut for the Sacramento River Cats in May of 2021. Less than two weeks later he was called up by the Giants and set to appear in his first major league game against the Texas Rangers.

Martinez traveled to Arlington, Texas to watch Long pitch. The Giants used a relief pitcher to start the game before turning to Long, who went four innings. He gave up one run, walked one and struck out seven. The Giants lost in extra innings.

“I was almost crying,” Martinez said. “I was so excited for him.”

Long remained in the Giants system until 2023, when he was traded to the Oakland Athletics. He pitched 45 innings for the club, the most of his career. Later that year, he signed with the Royals after becoming a free agent.

Last year he appeared in a career high 43 games. He came into this weekend’s series game with a 2-3 record and a 5.03 ERA on the season.

“When I’m on the mound, I still think about stuff he used to yell from the dugout,” he said. “You’ve got to be more competitive than that,” was one of the phrases if Long didn’t execute a pitch.

“I wouldn’t be here without him,” Long said.

Martinez coached several championship teams over his more than 30-year career, but Long is the only one of his players who made it to the major leagues. That may forever be the case. Martinez retired from coaching at Oakmont last year and is in his final year as a physical education teacher.

“I’m glad I was able to make a little impression on him.”

Martinez had tickets for all three games of the series.