Luke Little #43

Luke has made 37 career major league appearances across two seasons and is 3-1 with three holds, a 2.76 ERA (10 ER/32.2 IP), a 1.29 WHIP and a .182 opponent batting average (20-for-110)....Is 6-8 with a 2.50 ERA (39 ER/140.1 IP) in 65 career Minor League games (30 starts)...has recorded a 1.24 WHIP and 225 strikeouts...Was named a 2023 Southern League Post-Season All-Star with the Tennessee Smokies...Was selected by the Cubs in the 4th round of the 2020 MLB draft...Attended San Jacinto College, North Campus (Tex.)...Graduated from East Mecklenburgh High School in Charlotte, N.C...Ranked first in strikeouts in Southwestern 4A Boys Baseball and sixth in Division 4A Boys Baseball and 29th in North Carolina in Spring 2018, per Max Preps...Was committed to the University of South Carolina prior to being drafted.

2024

Luke made his first Opening Day roster in 2024 and went 3-1 with a 3.46 ERA (10 ER/26.0 IP), 28 strikeouts and just one home run allowed in 30 games (one start)...Earned his first career win May 21 vs. Atlanta (0 ER/1.0 IP)...Tied a career-high 1.2 innings pitched June 21 vs. New York (N.L.)...Notched a season-high three strikeouts June 27 at San Francisco...June 14-July 12 made 10-straight scoreless appearances (8.2 IP), his longest-such stretch of the season, before being removed from the game with a shoulder injury on July 12...Was placed on the 15-day injured list July 13 with a left shoulder strain, before being transferred to the 60-day list July 22 and missed the remainder of the season...At the time of his I.L. placement, his .181 opponent batting average ranked ninth, his .265 opponent slugging percentage ranked 10th and his 0.9% home run rate was good for 15th among N.L. relievers (min. 25 G).

2023

Luke in 2023, made his Major League debut Sept. 6...in seven games, tossed 6.2 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts...Went 5-2 with a 2.12 ERA (15 ER/63.2 IP) in 36 minor league games...recorded 105 strikeouts and allowed 40 hits...From Aug. 9-Oct. 1, did not allow an earned run and gave up 10 hits in 17.1 innings between Triple-A Iowa and the Cubs...Held opponents to zero or one hit in six of his seven appearances...tallied multiple strikeouts in four outings...Sept. 19 vs. Pittsburgh, all three outs he recorded came via strikeout...Recorded a career-high four strikeouts Oct. 1 against Milwaukee...Was named a Southern League Post-Season and MiLB.com Organizational All-Star with Double-A Tennessee.

2022

Split the 2022 season between Single-A Myrtle Beach and High-A South Bend, combining to go 1-5 with a 2.47 ERA (28 ER/65.2 IP) and 101 strikeouts in 24 games (22 starts)...His 35.4% strikeout rate was the second-highest among Cubs minor league pitchers (min. 20 G)...Allowed two earned runs or fewer in 22 of of his 24 outings...Was named the Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Month for July after posting a 1.15 ERA (2 ER/15.2 IP) with 25 strikeouts...Finished the month with 13.2-straight scoreless innings in his final four starts.

2021

In 2021, made his professional debut, appearing in five games (four starts) for the ACL Cubs...Struck out 19 batters in 11.0 IP, good for an average of 15.5 strikeouts per 9.0 IP.

2020

Did not pitch in 2020 due to the COVID-19-cancelled minor league season.