Brendon Little

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Brendon David Little

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Brendon Little was the 27th pick of the first round of the 2017 amateur draft, by the Chicago Cubs. He had been a 36th round pick by the San Francisco Giants in 2015 amateur draft, but had decided to attend the University of North Carolina instead. However, after his freshman season in 2016, during which he hardly pitched, he decided to transfer to Manatee State College in order to showcase himself in front of scouts. Nate Pearson, who was drafted immediately after him, had made a similar decision, leaving a top-rated NCAA Division I program in order to get more opportunity to pitch at the junior college level, and in both cases it worked. He was rated as having three above-average pitches, but his lack of college experience made him a still raw prospect who would need more minor league innings that the average first-rounder to reach the majors.

Little's first professional experience was with the Eugene Emeralds of the Northwest League in 2017 where he went 0-2, 9.37 in 6 starts. In 2018, he was with the South Bend Cubs of the Northwest League, where he went 5-11, 5.15 in 22 games and 101 1/3 innings. He then suffered a setback in 2019, as he was sidelined by a lat strain at the start of the season and the injury limited him to 12 games, including a couple of rehabilitation outings with the AZL Cubs 1. He did well with South Bend, going 0-1, 1.91 in 6 starts, but was again hit hard with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League where he was 2-1, 5.95 in 4 starts. A lack of consistency was the biggest issue plaguing him in his first three professional seasons. He then sat out the 2020 season when the minor leagues were shut down by the Coronavirus pandemic, as he had not yet shown enough to be given one of the precious spots at the team's alternate training site.

In 2021, he pitched 26 times in relief between the AA Tennessee Smokies and AAA Iowa Cubs, going 0-1, 3.24 with 3 saves. He struck out 53 batters in 41 2/3 innings. That earned him a chance to go to spring training as a non-roster invitee in 2022. Back with Iowa, he was 3-3, 4.15 with 1 save in 29 outings when circumstances dictated that he join the big league squad earlier than planned, leading to his making his major league debut against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on August 30th. He was one of three players added to the Cubs' roster to replace three others who had to be placed on the restricted list for being unvaccinated and thus unable to enter Canada. He pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief of Marcus Stroman, entering the game in the top of the 6th but gave up 3 runs on 2 hits and a walk, with all three runs scoring on a homer by Teoscar Hernandez, to be charged with the 5-3 loss. Another one of the three new players, P Jeremiah Estrada, also made his big league debut later in that game. It was his only major league appearance of the season.

In 2023, he spent the year with AAA Iowa, going 3-3, 4.05 in 50 games, including 2 starts; he also picked up a save. He struck out 73 batters in 73 1/3 innings. Following the season, he was purchased by the Toronto Blue Jays on November 6th and started the 2024 season with the AAA Buffalo Bisons. He was 0-1, 2.89 after 9 outings when he was called up to Toronto on April 25th to take the place of Bowden Francis, who had just been put on the injured list. He ended up pitching 49 games for Toronto, going 1-2, 3.74 with 1 save as a reliable lefty reliever. In 2025, as the Blue Jays surged to a first-place finish in the AL East, he led the league with 79 pitching appearances, finishing at 4-2, 3.03 with 1 save. He struck out an excellent 91 batters in 68 1/3 innings, but with 45 walks, it amounted to a walk rate of 5.9 per 9 innings, a lot higher that one would desire. It was also a tale of two seasons, as his ERA was 2.03 in 45 games before the All-Star break, but surged to 4.88 in 34 games after that; his walk rate also climbed significantly, as it was 6.4 per 9 innings in that stretch, a result of batters having learned to lay off some his breaking stuff at the bottom of the zone which was often outside the strike zone. He pitched well in the Division Series against the New York Yankees, allowing 1 run in 2 2/3 innings spread out over three outings, but he was roughed up in the next two rounds, giving up two long balls in just 1 1/3 innings. The first was hit by Cal Raleigh in the 8th inning of a 6-2 loss to the Seattle Mariners in Game 5 of the ALCS and the second was a walk-off home run by Freddie Freeman in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the World Series, giving the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-5 win on October 27th. Her was only in the game because manager John Schneider had run out of other pitching options, and was not used again after that.

He seemed to have righted things in spring training in 2026, not giving up any runs in 6 innings in Grapefruit League action, but trouble returned as soon as the season got under way. In his first outing on March 28th, he gave up a grand slam to Shea Langeliers of The Athletics and it took an epic late-game comeback by the Jays to salvage a win. However, in his next game, he gave up 4 runs to the Colorado Rockies while recording just two outs, and Toronto was eventually forced to use C Tyler Heineman to pitch mop-up relief, then two days later on April 1st, he lost a game to those same Rockies by giving up a run in the 10th inning. After three games, his record stood at 0-1, 27.00 and he had given up 8 runs in 2 1/3 innings. By then, Jay fans were cringing every time he was warming up in the bullpen and the question was openly asked about whether it might be time for him to be cut loose. He made two more appearances against the Chicago White Sox in the Jays' first road series of the year. He managed a scoreless inning on April 3rd, but the next day he gave up three runs in just a third of an inning, with Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery both going deep against him. He was charged with a blown save and was optioned back to AAA after the game, with veteran Joe Mantiply taking his place on the roster. In 24 games at Buffalo, he went 5-0, 2.31 in 23 1/3 innings, although the ERA distorted by the fact that 5 of the 11 runs he had allowed had been unearned, and there was some concern over his 19 walks allowed. In any case, he was called back to Toronto on June 19th. It seemed like he wanted to waste no doubt to prove the doubters right as he allowed 4 runs in his first inning of work in the majors after his return, in a 16-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on the day he was added to the roster. He was sent back to Buffalo immediately after the game.

Notable Achievements[edit]

  • AL Games Pitched Leader (2025)

Further Reading[edit]

  • Rob Longley (Toronto Sun): "What can be done with Brendon Little, the pitcher Blue Jays fans love to hate?", Yahoo! News, March 31, 2026. [1]

Related Sites[edit]

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