The Toronto Blue Jays entered the 2025 campaign with two left-handers in their bullpen. One was Brendon Little, the go-to southpaw option for manager John Schneider, and Richard Lovelady, who earned a spot on the team to begin the year despite struggling in spring training.

Fast-forward to today, and while Little remains in the fold, Lovelady was sent away, and a different option has entered the fray in Mason Fluharty, a former fifth-round pick of the Blue Jays from the 2022 MLB Draft. Fluharty was an option to consider dating back to last season, when he posted a 3.63 ERA across 56 outings for the Buffalo Bisons to the tune of a 10.2 K/9 and a 1.179 WHIP, but the Jays kept him stowed away in triple-A Buffalo for continued reps. One could even argue he should have been picked over Lovelady for the spot, but that all was for naught when the Jays brought the left-hander to the big leagues on March 30th, just a few days into the new campaign.

Throughout the regular season, both Little and Fluharty have found themselves being relied upon in numerous situations and are finding ways to get themselves out of jams while putting up solid numbers.

Little didn’t allow a hit until his third outing of the season, and although he allowed two runs against the Mets back on April 5th, which shot his ERA to 5.79, he’s settled in nicely since. The southpaw has allowed just eight hits and one earned run since that Mets outing, striking out 22 batters compared to eight walks through his 13 1/3 innings of work. He’s held batters to a .167 average and a .507 OPS while tossing a 0.68 ERA and a 1.84 FIP. Little has one home run allowed on the season and is producing better numbers against opposite-handed bats, holding right-handers to a .135/.238/.189 slash line compared to LHB’s and their .267/.371/.433 numbers.

The former Chicago Cubs reliever is an absolute whiff master, ranking in the 100th percentile with his 53.9% rank, which is mostly due to his knuckle curve that has produced a +4 run value this season. That pitch alone sits at a 65.3% whiff rate and hitters own just a .094 xBA and a .131 xSLG on the offering. His sinker is getting tagged at a higher clip compared to his knuckle curve and cutter options but the 28-year-old mixes his pitches well to continue to get batters to chase (98th percentile/40.0%). On the season, Little owns a 2.00 ERA through 18.0 innings and has amassed a 2.39 FIP with a 1.222 WHIP.

Little sits just behind Louie Varland in appearances for an American League reliever (21 vs. 20) and has allowed just four hits through his last five innings of work, striking out seven batters. His 28 punchouts on the year have him sitting seventh amongst all Major League relievers.

Fluharty continues to prove to both the Blue Jays staff and the fans that he deserves a spot in the bullpen. His debut got off to a rocky start, with the southpaw tasked with facing CJ Abrams with a runner on third in a 3-2 game (Abrams doubled to right field) before getting James Wood to ground out to third base. He would then enter against the New York Mets with the Jays trailing 2-0, and the first batter he would face was Juan Soto, who deposited a double to right field, which scored Francisco Lindor from first base. He would then allow his first run of the year, thanks to a Pete Alonso intentional walk and a Brandon Nimmo double to right field as well, before getting pulled from the game. His replacement (Jacob Barnes) would allow another run to score and be credited against Fluharty.

Starting your career with an 18.00 ERA and facing some tough bats in Abrams and Soto is a tough welcome to the league. However, since that Mets outing, the Delaware product has been downright dominant in the Jays’ pen.

Following that rough New York City stint, he didn’t allow a single hit until April 25th against the Yankees, a stretch spanning eight appearances and over 7 2/3 innings where he struck out eight batters compared to four walks (including the Yankees game). That outing also put another earned run on Fluharty’s stat line, and since then, he has continued to be a force on the mound. It appears that if a run gets scored on the rookie pitcher, he bounces back in a big way, as he hasn’t allowed a hit since that April 25th outing, nor has he allowed a free pass – he has kept the bases clear through his last 6 2/3 innings.

On the season, Fluharty owns a 1.76 ERA and a 2.33 FIP through 15 1/3 innings, boasting an 8.8 K/9 while limiting hitters to a minuscule 2.3 H/9. He’s amassed a 0.587 WHIP in the process and features a ton of red on his statcast metrics, highlighted by his 97th percentile xBA mark of .178. A two-pitch mix pitcher, featuring a cutter and a sweeper, Fluharty sports a +3 and +2 run value on his offerings, respectively, and both pitches are holding runners to below a .200 wOBA.

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