Craig Counsell has a reputation as a bullpen savant from his years in Milwaukee where he seemingly always pulled the right strings with his relievers.

A big part of that is helping develop young pitchers and putting them in the right situations to succeed.

The Cubs bullpen has been ravaged by injuries this year but a couple of rookies appear to be carving out solid roles for the group.

Luke Little and Porter Hodge are emerging as candidates to join Counsell’s “Circle of Trust.”

As much out of necessity as performance, both players have been thrust into some leverage moments over the past couple weeks with players like Adbert Alzolay, Yency Almonte, Julian Merryweather and others on the IL.

The 23-year-old Little picked up the win Tuesday night against the White Sox as the Cubs offense rallied late. He hasn’t allowed a hit since he returned to the majors in mid-May – a span of 8.1 innings.

Little was a 4th-round pick in the COVID Draft in 2020. He worked as a starter early in his minor league days but moved to the bullpen full time last year and ended up making his big-league debut in September.

The 6-foot-8 southpaw did not allow a run in 7 MLB appearances last year and then earned a spot in the Opening Day bullpen after a strong spring. After a rough outing in Boston (5 runs in 0.2 innings), Little was optioned to Triple-A Iowa where he was tasked with working on his command.

“I’m really happy with Luke’s progress,” Counsell said. “I knew this was going to be a developmental year for Luke. I think if we look back on Luke’s season, did you get better? Did you improve?

“From the time he went down and came back, we’ve taken a little step forward, which is a really positive thing. It’s going to have some hiccups. I remember telling him in Spring Training: ‘Luke, you are going to have innings where you walk multiple people. The inning can’t fall apart after you walk multiple people.'”

Counsell was proven prophetic a week ago in Milwaukee when Little came on in the 8th and promptly walked the first 2 Brewers batters he faced. But he then buckled down and induced a double play before coming out of the game.

Command will be an issue for Little, as it is with most young pitchers who throw hard and are not yet finished products.

He took it seriously when he was sent back down to the minors, immediately getting to work to improve the command of his slider and adjusting his routine to be better prepared for an appearance.

Little felt like he was too rushed when he would enter games in the big leagues early this season.

“I personally wasn’t prepared,” he said. “Not mentally – I’m always mentally prepared. But physically, I wasn’t prepared. I didn’t do my plyos, I didn’t put my stuff on.

“So when stuff hit the fan, I was rushing to do that stuff that I should have already done it.”

Little’s routine consists of doing plyometrics to warm up and putting a cooling lotion on his shoulder before appearances in games. But he felt like that was all too rushed, so he started doing it earlier in games and now uses a Bodyblade to stay warm until he gets the call.

The 23-year-old Hodge made his 5th MLB appearance Wednesday, working around a walk in a scoreless inning. He has not allowed a run in the majors yet and has racked up 7 strikeouts against only 1 walk in 4.1 innings.

Hodge came up at a time when the Cubs simply needed healthy arms in the bullpen. Colten Brewer was just added to the IL with a back injury – a move that came days after Keegan Thompson, Alzolay and Almonte were also placed on the IL.

Hodge was already on the 40-man roster after being added over the offseason and was pitching in Triple-A.

But he had very little experience in the upper-minors with only 10 games in Triple-A this year – and had a 6.55 ERA and 11 walks in 11 innings.

“It’s a little fast for Porter, frankly, but it’s a good arm and this is going to be a good experience for him, good development for him,” Counsell said on May 17 when Hodge was first called up to the big leagues.

Hodge had to wait a bit for his debut – nearly a week – but he made the most of his appearance, striking out all 3 Braves he faced while throwing a dynamic fastball.

It’s the fastball that has the Cubs excited about his future – and it has also been a big part of his success so far.

“There’s a little cut on it,” Counsell said. “It’s the cut-ride fastball. What makes pitches good is that they’re unique and hitters don’t see them a lot and that’s a unique fastball.

“There’s other guys that have it but it’s just a unique shape to a fastball and got some swings-and-misses. It’s not something hitters normally see.”

Most fastballs around baseball drop a bit as they get toward home plate. Hodge’s doesn’t drop as much as others and actually gives off the appearance that it is rising as it crosses home plate.

“I used to throw sinkers and the Cubs were like, ‘why don’t we just start throwing 4-seams?'” Hodge said. “It just kinda became natural. I don’t really do anything – just throw it.”

Hodge was a 13th-round pick by the Cubs in 2019 and began his career as a starter in the minor leagues. The organization moved him to the bullpen last year in Double-A and that helped put him on a path to the big leagues.

When Hodge first came up, the thought was he might not spend much time up in the majors. Once other players got healthy in the bullpen, he could be the first move back to the minors.

He has not only stuck around for several weeks now but he has actually started to flourish. While he may not be a back end arm yet, he has been used in close games and continues to get big outs.

And he’s loving it.

“It’s definitely something special [in the big leagues],” Hodge said. “A lot of people don’t get to experience these things. It’s kinda like living on a different planet, soaking all the stuff in travel-wise. Seeing different cities is pretty cool.”

The Cubs know there will be learning curves with the pair of young relievers. But for a bullpen filled with question marks, it would be a huge development for the team if Little and Hodge are able to continue an ascent into leverage moments.