How Blue Jays’ Brendon Little reinvented his pitching arsenal

DUNEDIN, Fla. — Chris Bassitt used to say it to Brendon Little on a regular basis:

“You’re a north-south pitcher who doesn’t pitch north.”

It’s a great way to explain the place issues went awry for Little in 2025, because the left-hander went from certainly one of MLB’s handiest leverage relievers by the Blue Jays’ first 100 video games to the underside of the membership’s bullpen hierarchy throughout its most crucial October moments.

Little’s stuff was past nasty. Hitters pounded his sinker into the bottom two-thirds of the time they made contact. They missed his curveball fully over half the time they swung.

But as soon as these hitters understood he was solely throwing pitches from their thighs down, they merely stopped providing. From the start of August by the tip of the season, no pitcher in baseball earned a decrease swing fee than Little’s 38 per cent. This led to him concurrently posting MLB’s highest stroll fee in that span.

As Bassitt stated, he wasn’t going north. But up to now this spring, Little is. With authority:

That’s Little per week in the past, throwing a 98-mph four-seam fastball up-and-in to a right-handed hitter for a first-pitch strike. That’s not a lane he might assault final yr, which allowed righties to hang around over the plate searching for sinkers they might deal with.

And right here’s Little on Wednesday, utilizing that very same four-seamer — this time at 97 — to get a swinging third strike from a lefty up within the zone:

That’s another choice he didn’t possess in 2025, when lefties with two strikes knew he was going to throw a curveball 65 per cent of the time. They might battle their means again right into a rely in the event that they appeared for that spin and both spat on it or, if it was too near take, fouled it off.

Finally, right here’s Little earlier this spring, behind 1-0 in a rely, utilizing a 96-mph four-seamer on the top of the zone to even issues up:

Lefties in 1-0 counts in opposition to Little final season noticed sinkers a whopping 83 per cent of the time. That fee was the identical in 2-0 counts for each lefties and righties. That’s about as near a certainty as you’ll discover within the sport.

No surprise Little’s added that four-seamer, which he can elevate to alter eye ranges and add some north to his south-only recreation. No surprise he’s additionally developed a tough slider he can reliably land for strikes, and hopes will play higher on the plate than his curveball, which hitters had a 54 per cent hard-hit fee in opposition to final season when he threw it within the zone.

And no surprise he’s been essentially the most spectacular reliever in Blue Jays camp this spring, incomes a 54 per cent whiff fee and hanging out 11 of the 27 batters he’s confronted whereas permitting solely 4 hits — all of them soft-hit singles.

“There’s been a lot of outings where I feel like you look up and he’s got 10 or 11 pitches and 9 or 10 strikes, which is all we’re asking him to do,” says Blue Jays supervisor John Schneider. “If he’s in the zone, man, it just puts so much doubt into the hitter with the curveball coming into play, too.”

Little’s tried to develop a carrying four-seamer earlier than. The Chicago Cubs, who chosen him within the first spherical of 2017’s draft, made it a developmental precedence once they have been grooming him as a starter. But he might by no means get it fairly proper.

When he shifted to aid in 2021, the web was forged wider for a second fastball form typically. The Cubs foresaw what MLB hitters in the end found out — that if Little solely threw two pitches, each transferring down within the zone, he might get key-holed by superior competitors who didn’t must respect his capability to raise for strikes.

By 2023, he’d settled on a cutter, which he continued tinkering with throughout pitch design classes at Driveline after he was traded to the Blue Jays. He featured it semi-regularly throughout his first season with Toronto in 2024, however his sinker-curveball combine was enjoying so nicely over 2025’s first half that he seldom wanted to throw it.

Until he did. After pitching to a 1.90 ERA whereas hanging out 35 per cent of hitters he confronted by late July, groups adjusted and stopped chasing Little’s curveball in August, ready for him to both miss up with a sinker or hand out a free go. Three of the 5 outings through which he allowed a number of runs final season got here inside a 30-day span. 

Searching for a hasty in-season adjustment, Toronto’s pitching group urged Little enhance his cutter utilization to offer hitters one thing else to consider. After throwing solely 52 cutters by the primary 5 months of the season — nearly solely to righties — Little threw 45 in September alone, utilizing it meaningfully in opposition to lefties for the primary time in his profession. That helped arrest the bleeding. Little allowed solely three runs and 6 walks over 15 appearances from August 31 by the tip of the season.

But it wasn’t a long-term answer. There was a purpose Little shelved the pitch within the first place. So, when he resumed throwing this low season, he got down to attempt one thing new. Or previous, technically. 

Over the years, when taking a look at numerous four-seam grips from profitable pitchers with good carry, corresponding to Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, he’d observed they tucked their thumb beneath the ball. That’s not how Little naturally grips his pitches. He retains his thumb excessive on the ball. But he was decided to energy by the adjustment part.

“It was brutal at first,” he says. “I couldn’t even hit a backstop. It’s kind of a drastic change for me. So, it was just a shot in the dark. Like, hopefully this actually works.”

Not lengthy after he began engaged on the pitch, Little was scrolling by Instagram and got here throughout a proposal to take part in a analysis examine from personal pitching teacher Dean Jackson, who was as soon as director of particular tasks at Driveline. Jackson was investigating the efficacy of pulldowns — a high-intent throwing drill meant to construct arm pace — for velocity improvement:

Little was tangentially all for whether or not doing pulldowns was definitely worth the trade-off in restoration assets, however his major curiosity was the free movement seize classes Jackson was providing in alternate for participation. That gave him perception into how vitality was transferring up his kinetic chain and entry to a participant improvement complicated — Terra Sports in Phoenix, AZ — the place he obtained assist not solely dialling within the new fastball but additionally tweaking grips on a more true slider than he’s ever thrown earlier than.

Little first hit 98 together with his new four-seamer throughout these classes in Arizona and was sitting 96 comfortably in early bullpens as soon as he reported to Blue Jays camp. That’s carried over instantly into video games, the place Little’s four-seamer has averaged 96.9-m.p.h. and been as excessive as 98.4.

Just as encouraging is how nicely his new slider’s enjoying. That developmental course of started once more with a deGrom grip that Little morphed into one thing that labored for his hand. It got here out a bit of delicate at first, however the form was encouraging. And over three pitch design classes at Terra, he discovered the appropriate launch to realize the traits he’s after — one thing proper round 90-m.p.h. with three inches or much less of glove-side motion and simply sufficient constructive vertical break.

It isn’t on anybody’s scouting experiences but, so a few of Little’s success with it will probably doubtless be chalked as much as shock. But he’s gotten eight whiffs off 11 swings in opposition to it this spring whereas throwing it for a strike 60 per cent of the time. The one hit he’s allowed off a slider up to now was a swinging bunt single that by no means left the infield grass.

All instructed, Little has extra avenues to take now as he navigates hitters who confronted him on Trajekt earlier than the sport. He can nonetheless land sinkers on the backside to generate groundballs and bury curveballs beneath the zone for swing-and-miss. But he may elevate on the high of the field with four-seamers and use his slider away from lefties or in in opposition to righties to again them off the plate.

The induced vertical break of Little’s four-seamer — a measure of how a lot it fights gravity and carries up within the zone — hasn’t been distinctive at a median of 13.4 inches. But it should be sufficient to boost a hitter’s eye stage and coax their swings greater for his uber-sinking two-seamer and curveball to duck beneath. He gained’t use it as usually as his sinker and curveball, which stay the bread and butter. He’ll simply use it sufficient to power hitters to respect it.

“I just have more options. Having four pitches takes off the pressure of having to be too fine,” he says. “And I won’t fall into patterns as much. I feel like I can throw a lot more in the zone in any count. I like trying to tunnel pitches and play them off of each other. Don’t double up that much. That was what I was hoping to be doing. And obviously it’s working.”

And together with his new four-seamer at 97-98 m.p.h., he ought to have the ability to get away with some errors. Big-league hitters OPS’ed .802 in opposition to four-seamers thrown 96 m.p.h. or softer final season. But in opposition to fastballs thrown 97 m.p.h. or tougher, that OPS dropped to .660. It’s the distinction velocity makes. It offers pitchers margin for error.

Still, the duty for Little this season can be sustaining that pace, which is tough to do whenever you’re pitching as usually as he’s. Little led the American League in appearances final season, pitching in slightly below half of Toronto’s video games. His fatigue was evident down the stretch and into the postseason when Toronto’s teaching employees stopped utilizing him altogether. His lone World Series look was within the seventeenth and 18th innings of a marathon Game 3. 

For that, Little has a plan. He fell right into a counterproductive behavior final season of overpreparing within the bullpen for outings, throwing too many maximal effort pitches earlier than he ever obtained on the sport mound. That’s wasted vitality he could possibly be using to get hitters out. So, going ahead, he doesn’t intend to throw bullpen pitches above 90-91 m.p.h. If he does, it’ll be his remaining pitch earlier than the door swings open and his music begins to play.

Once he’s on the sport mound, he’ll use his warmup pitches to speed up from the 80 per cent he labored at within the bullpen. That ought to avoid wasting his arm from overuse and assist him bounce again faster after multi-inning outings. Little says he’s already observed advantages throughout catch play this spring when he’s felt extra fluid working by his supply and attempting to hit spots. 

“I’ve been moving really well. Honestly, everything feels smoother. I feel like I’m landing pitches more consistently,” he says. “I have more feel for pitches at lower intensities. Now, the focus in all of my bullpens is hitting spots rather than velo. And making sure shapes are right. I think the focus is shifting for me a lot in my work.”

Just add it to the checklist of issues Little intends to do in a different way this season. He’s overhauled his arm care routine on the recommendation of a bodily therapist he labored by an adductor difficulty with over the winter. He’s aiming to take care of the additional 10-12 kilos he’ll enter the season carrying. He’s nonetheless not fairly bought on pulldowns.

He didn’t bear all this experimentation and reinvention as a snap response to how his 2025 season ended. Just as he isn’t sustaining the established order as a result of that season — if assessed by an goal, holistic lens — was undeniably profitable, producing 1.3 fWAR, which ranked top-30 amongst MLB relievers. He’s doing it as a result of self-improvement isn’t a job one ever completes.

“He’s done exactly what we had hoped; exactly what we had talked about in the offseason,” Schneider says. “He’s been around long enough that I think teams have a very specific, deliberate approach against him. You’ve got to keep evolving. And I think he’s done a good job of that.”