2026 Chicago Cubs player profiles: Luke Little

Today we look at the Cubs’ left-handed flamethrower.

Luke Little, all 6’8”, 220 pounds of him, just needs to throw strikes. In three seasons as a part-time Chicago Cub, he’s thrown 35.1 innings. In those innings, he has struck out 44 batters. That’s really good. But he has walked 28. That’s really bad.

He’s 3-1 with a 2.80 ERA in 39 games. Most of those games were in his pretty good 2024 season. He was hurt some of 2025 and spent almost the entire remainder of the season in Iowa. In his 43 games there, he was 2-1 in 59.2 innings, earned two saves, was the opener twice, had a 2.87 ERA, struck out 75 and walked 34.

Lifetime, he has amassed 0.6 bWAR (0.2 fWAR). The 25-year-old still has a little time before he’s considered a suspect but he’s on that track unless he makes a great showing in the spring. Projections do have him making the roster and throwing 30-ish innings, with his BB/p shrinking to 3.9 in Baseball Reference’s book. Zips has him garnering positive WAR and throwing 57 innings.

That would be okay. He could join the short/setup group with those kind of walk numbers. Little throws HARD — he’s reached triple digits more than once and sits 96+. He doesn’t give up many long balls. The free passes will determine his financial future.

He could be a star in the league. The odds are against it at this late date, but we will await developments.