Blue Jays’ Brendon Little went from being involved in a small trade to one of the best left-handed relievers in baseball

On November 6, 2023, the Toronto Blue Jays made a seemingly small trade, moving cash considerations to the Chicago Cubs for a left-handed reliever.

That reliever’s only appearance came on August 30, 2022, ironically against the Blue Jays. It wasn’t a good game for the lefty, giving up three earned runs in two-thirds of an inning. After spending the entirety of the 2023 season in the minors, this player was traded to the Jays.

Fast forward to the present day, and that reliever, Brendon Little, is one of the best left-handed relievers in the league. Of lefties with 20 or more innings pitched, Little’s 1.61 ERA is third-best, behind just Daniel Lynch IV and Bryan King. Little has a better ERA than Josh Hader, Tanner Scott, and Jose Alvarado.

His FIP backs this up as well. Little has a 2.10 FIP this season, second-best for left-handed relievers with 20 or more innings pitched, behind just Alvarado. A reason for this is thanks to his 37 K%, the highest for left-handed relievers and the fourth-highest for any reliever with 20+ innings pitched. The only knock against Little is his 10.9 BB%, but he’s done a good job keeping the ball in the park, just giving up one home run this season.

What’s interesting is how he got outs last season compared to this season. Coming into this season, Little was always regarded as a ground ball pitcher. Last season, the lefty had an incredible 70.9% ground ball percentage, second-best in the league to Luke Little (no relation) with a minimum of 10 innings pitched. Little still gets a ton of ground balls in 2025 (61.7%), but the development of his knuckle curve has made him elite.

This season, Little has a 52.7 whiff%, meaning any time a batter swings, he’s missing 52.7% of the time. That’s tops in the league for any pitcher with a minimum of 10 plate appearances. His knuckle curveball, in particular, has the highest whiff% of any pitch in baseball amongst qualified pitches (Mason Miller’s 68.9% whiff% on his slider ranks slightly higher). Little’s sinker also gets a respectable number of whiffs at 42.9%, the second-highest whiff% % for any pitch on the Blue Jays.