The Toronto Blue Jays should give Brendon Little a chance to get back on track in 2026 — albeit on an extremely short leash.
Little broke out in the first half of 2025 with a 2.11 ERA through the end of June. That number doubled to 4.20 the rest of the way, culminating in several meltdowns during the ALCS against the Seattle Mariners that jeopardized the Blue Jays’ season.
While it may be tempting to cast Little aside considering how poorly he finished the year, he can be the kind of swing-and-miss lefty reliever the Blue Jays are otherwise lacking in their bullpen. They need to see if he can be effective again before moving on.
Brendon Little gets PCA swinging with the bases juiced to hold on to the 3-run lead 👀
📺: @TBSNetwork pic.twitter.com/iIn17z0x8L
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) August 13, 2025
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Little gets whiffs and groundballs at an elite level; he ranked in the 100th and 97th percentile in these metrics last year, respectively. He struck out 30.2% of the batters he faced while holding them to a .195 expected batting average. Few relievers in baseball put up those kinds of numbers.
Walks are Little’s kryptonite. His 15.3% walk rate in 2025 was among the worst in baseball and ballooned his WHIP to 1.36. His inability to limit free passes got worse as the season progressed; he walked 17 batters in his final 24 innings pitched. He then walked five more batters in four playoff innings.
Little is always going to be wild in the same way Ernie Clement is always going to be aggressive at the plate. Still, he has to command his pitches well enough to force batters to swing — they won’t chase if everything he throws is uncompetitive.
This is especially true given Little’s second-percentile extension. He releases the ball just 5.6 feet in front of the rubber. That pales in comparison to someone like Aroldis Chapman, who releases the ball with 7.3 feet of extension. The ball has to travel further when Little throws it, which grants batters more time to make swing decisions. This could be offset by elite velocity, but Little’s sinking fastball sits at just 93.4 mph.
Extension will remain an issue for Little unless he magically grows longer arms. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t add more deception to his delivery by tweaking his glove positioning or making other subtle adjustments. A small change could go a long way towards making him tougher to read.
With all that being said, the Blue Jays are trying to win a World Series in 2026. Winning games in April is just as important as winning games in September. They can’t afford to keep stubbornly deploying Little if his second-half struggles persist. Still, giving him a short runway to get back on track could be an investment that pays huge dividends.
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