Royals add tantalizing Cubs lefty with one glaring flaw to already questionable bullpen depth

The Kansas City Royals have made it priority of late to bolster their pitching depth in light of their terrible injury luck and sheer underperformance on the mound this season. While their relatively uneventful deadline caused a stir amongst the fanbase, they one thig they did do was bring in new names to address their pitching depth. Three of these names in Lucas Braun, Carlos Duran and Nolan Hoffman could be options this season, and the trade around two weeks prior to the deadline for Nate Pearson has already reaped MLB rewards for Kansas City.

On Thursday, the Royals continued to add to their pitching depth, claiming left-handed reliever Luke Little of waivers from the Chicago Cubs. Little was designated for assignment by the Cubs on Monday after appearing in just one big league inning for them this season. In that inning two hits and a solo homer spoiled the show for him. However, whether it be in the majors or the minors, he's had mixed results.

Looking at his one relatively full season of major league work, Little looked like a decent source of strikeouts with 9.69 K/9, however he paired that with some lackluster control, posting a 6.23 K/9 mark in 30 appearances with Chicago that year. This season in Triple-A Iowa and Double-A Knoxville, that suspect control has been on full display once again, with a combined 10.07 K/9 and 7.78 BB/9.

There's upside to be had with Little and considering, at least from a major league perspective, he's shown the abilities to not only strike hitters out but limit run scoring damage with sub-4.00 ERAs before this year. However, it comes at cost, as he's not a perfect pitcher - no perfect pitcher gets designated for assignment.

Luke Little only magnifies control issues Royals' bullpen has had in 2026

Little's control issues shed light on Kansas City's bullpen this season, but at the end of the day, his command issues pose a small fish in a big pond-type issue. His command issues are simply lost in a bullpen filled with command issues.

On top of being the second-worst bullpen in baseball in terms of ERA, they also sit 27th in MLB in BB/9 at 4.53 and dead-last in WHIP at 1.55. On top of that, their relievers have combined for the second-lowest first-pitch strike rate and tied for 23rd in terms of pitches landing in the zone.

Looking at specific arms in particular, two of their closing arms this season in Alex Lange and Lucas Erceg sport BB/9 rates above 5.00 and only Daniel Lynch IV sports a WHIP under 1.20. And that's just the regular arms. The fact remains that because of injury and lack of quality, this bullpen has been cobbled together with a band of misfits.

Little will start his tenure in Kansas City's organization in Triple-A Omaha, so he won't be a factor immediately for the Royals. But given the fact that it's never taken long for other 40-man acquisitions to grace Kansas City with their presence, perhaps Little will become a factor sooner rather than later.

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