Brendon Little needed a reset, and the confines of Sahlen Field provided the refuge he was seeking away from the bright lights of the Rogers Centre.

The Blue Jays reliever was dominant to start the 2025 season, but the southpaw struggled down the stretch and seemed like a shade of his former self as October rolled around. While he impressed in Spring Training, Little wasn’t able to shake off the rust to begin the 2026 season, allowing 10 hits, three home runs, and 10 earned runs through 3 2/3 innings. With an option at his disposal, it was just a matter of time before Little found himself in Buffalo, possibly even Dunedin and back into the pitching lab ala Alek Manoah style.

Down in Buffalo, Little is doing all the right things away from the spotlight.

The 29-year-old has made seven appearances in Buffalo since the demotion and has yet to allow an earned run with just four hits allowed. He’s held opponents to a .182 average, .182 SLG, and a .490 OPS during that span and owns a 1.14 WHIP through the limited sample size. Little has also returned to his strikeout ways, punching out 12 batters while gaining some feel back for his knuckle-curve, a pitch that has become incredibly important to the left-hander over the past couple of seasons.

While Little is experiencing a resurgence on the mound at the Triple-A level, he’s still got a couple of kinks to work out on the mound. He’s allowed four free passes since being sent to Buffalo. Across seven innings, this works to a 5.14 BB/9, which is a number that is still a bit too high for the big league level and something opponents have taken advantage of when he becomes a bit wild on the rubber. The one positive for Little is that most of those walks (three of four) came within his first three outings with the Bisons, and he’s allowed just one free pass through his last four outings, which is a step in the right direction.

Looking ahead, it appears that Little has found that 2025 form that made him such a dominant arm to begin the year, but there will be that slight caveat that he’s finding those numbers away from the big league level. The Jays will likely keep Little down in the minors for the time being, barring an injury, and that makes sense to see if Little can throw a couple more outings to see if he can keep that command in check. Even if he gives up a couple more hits and maybe loses a strikeout or two, the free passes are what really bit him last season when he was struggling, so that should be the top priority.

The situation changes if Joe Mantiply and Mason Fluharty aren’t providing quality outings over the next week, but there’s also a scenario where Little tosses another couple of clean innings and usurps Mantiply from his spot in the bullpen sooner than later.

For right now, things are trending in the right direction for Little. Now it’s up to the Blue Jays reliever to continue these metrics and keep moving in the right direction.

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