Article: Will Brendon Little’s Breakout Season Earn Him an All-Star Nod?

[Bryan Jaeger]

This year's All-Star Game will be held July 15 in the Atlanta Braves' Truist Park. The rosters are determined by fan voting for the starters at each position, while the players and the commissioner's office choose the reserves and the pitchers.

The Blue Jays are off to a 36-30 start, are four games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East, and are half a game ahead in the Wild Card standings.

With this success, the Blue Jays should receive a few All-Star selections. The issue is that no one on the roster is guaranteed to make the trip to the Midsummer Classic, unless Vladimir Guerrero Jr. can win the fan vote or earn his peers' vote because of his popularity and solid performance this season.

Brendon Little is another Blue Jay who deserves All-Star consideration, but this is the lefty's first full season in the big leagues. So, is he too much of an unknown to make his first All-Star appearance?

Little's MLB debut was short-lived in 2022, when he threw two-thirds of an inning for the Cubs and gave up three earned runs. He was sent back down to Triple-A Iowa shortly afterward. He spent all of 2023 in Iowa, pitching to a 4.05 ERA and striking out 73 in 73 1/3 innings.

In the following offseason, the Blue Jays acquired the 28-year-old for cash considerations. They are reaping the rewards this season. In 30 innings, Little has a 2.10 ERA, a 44:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 12 holds, and two saves.

Due to a stellar pitching arsenal, batters are hitting .185 against the lefty, and Little has an impressive 1.17 walks plus hits per inning pitched (WHIP). According to Baseball Savant, he throws his knuckle curve and sinker 47.5 and 46 percent of the time, respectively.

These pitches have Little in the 94th percentile or higher in expected batting average, as well as chase, whiff, strikeout, and groundball percentages. His knuckle curve is the most dangerous pitch in his arsenal.

This pitch has held batters to a .136 batting average, a .169 slugging percentage, and fooled opponents with a 60.2 whiff percentage. Little has finished 64 plate appearances with the pitch this season, and 38 have ended in a strikeout.

Little's pitch mix in 2024 and 2025, via Baseball Savant

The whiff percentage for the knuckle curve has improved by 16.5 percent from last season. His sinker is dropping even more than it did last season, and his whiff percentage on the sinker has increased from 21.5 to 36.1 percent. These increases are a massive reason why Little is succeeding and could potentially earn an All-Star appearance.

Little's biggest hurdle is that, with his short MLB history, he is not a known name outside of Toronto. Also, after allowing an earned run on April 25, Little went 15 games without allowing another earned run. He has since allowed an earned run in each of his last two appearances, raising his ERA to 2.10.

Pitchers get 12 spots on the All-Star team (although that number could rise as replacements are added), and relievers get at least three of those. With popular relievers Jhoan Duran, Tommy Kahnle, Josh Hader, and Andrés Muñoz having successful seasons, Little's chances to earn a bid were already slim, but his recent struggles make a Midsummer Classic trip seem almost impossible. To salvage his All-Star bid, shutout innings will be vital for the rest of June as he strives to reach the top of the AL reliever leaderboards.

Stats, standings, and rankings updated prior to games on June 10.

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