Brendon

Little

It’s not surprising to see Little get sent down after posting a brutal 24.55 ERA and 3.54 WHIP over 3 2/3 innings through his first five appearances. He’ll try to work through his issues at the Triple-A level for the time being.

Little had a 3.03 ERA in 79 appearances last season, and it looked like he might be even better this year during the spring, when he struck out 11 in six scoreless innings with his velocity up by about two mph from last year. Instead, he’s already given up seven earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. He’ll probably turn things around, but one more disaster outing might force the Blue Jays to send him to Triple-A for a couple of weeks.

Little was already plenty good while averaging 93.4 mph with his sinker last year. Right now, he’s at 94.8 mph with the pitch, and he’s been around 97 mph with the four-seamer he’s never really thrown as a major leaguer. It’s probably not going to matter much outside of leagues that count holds, but he’ll likely be one of the AL’s top lefty relievers if this keeps up.

The blown save actually went to Brendon Little, who gave hits to both batters he faced and took the loss in the three-run frame. Hoffman was down today after throwing 39 pitches the last two days, and the Jays also clearly wanted to stay away from Seranthony Domínguez, who is probably second on their bullpen depth chart. It doesn’t seem likely that Nance will get many more save chances.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider told reporters Little might even be available to pitch this weekend after exiting Friday’s relief appearance against the Orioles with a lat cramp. It doesn’t sound like a serious concern moving forward.

It technically goes down as a save for Little as he came on to record the final out of the eighth inning in relief of Toronto starter José Berríos and came back out to spin a flawless final frame, protecting a four-run margin at the time. The 28-year-old southpaw got the call because veteran Chad Green had pitched twice in the last three days and was presumably unavailable due to workload reasons.

Little returns to the majors with Toronto closer Jordan Romano landing on the injured list ahead of Saturday’s contest against the Pirates. The 27-year-old southpaw has made three appearances this season in the big leagues.

Little is pushed off the roster with Alek Manoah coming off the injured list for his season debut. The 27-year-old will likely get another chance to help the Toronto bullpen at some point this summer.

The 27-year-old reliever will join the Blue Jays as an extra arm as Bowden Francis heads to the injured list. Little has posted a 2.89 ERA, 1.61 WHIP with a 16/8 K/BB ratio in 9 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level this season.

Little was acquired back in November from the Cubs and will open the season back in the upper minors as extra organizational relief depth.