John Schneider outlines plan to fix Brendon Little’s struggles on the mound

John Schneider isn’t in a disastrous spot with the Toronto Blue Jays at 4-4, but there’s growing concern over what’s happening with Brendon Little, who recently had another disastrous outing, allowing three earned runs in just 0.1 innings.

“John Schneider notices that Brendon Little just isn’t getting hitters to chase like he did when he was sharper in 2025: ‘We’ve got to figure it out. We’re going to try to put the best team out there every single day, so we’ll definitely sit down and talk about it,’” wrote Keegan Matheson on X (@keeganmatheson).

Schneider knows he needs a reliable reliever to keep opposing hitters in check, but Little hasn’t delivered. Through just five games, he owns a 24.55 ERA with only six strikeouts, numbers that raise serious concerns early in the season.

What could happen with Little?

While Schneider said the team will evaluate what’s going wrong on the mound, one potential move could be sending Little to Triple-A to reset. That’s a possibility Matheson also floated, noting it could benefit the pitcher, who is now in his fourth year with the organization.

“This isn’t working right now for Brendon Little. He has an option remaining, which means this doesn’t need to be an extreme (or permanent) move. A reset in Buffalo would clearly be beneficial. There’s no such thing as ‘early’ in the AL East. These are all big games,” Matheson wrote.

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Several analysts have expressed concern about Little’s struggles. Chris Black (@downtoblack) also pointed out how rough things have been, noting an 8.79 ERA over his last 41 appearances, far from ideal for Toronto.

Last season, Little appeared in 79 games and posted a 3.03 ERA, the best year of his career. He also started 2025 strong with a 4.26 ERA over 6.1 innings, helping the team win five of eight games early on, but so far, nothing has resembled that form.