Justin Steele Throws Again for First Time Since Latest Setback
Justin Steele hasn’t pitched in a game since April 7, 2025, just his fourth start of the season, and he would have been back already under normal circumstances. His second elbow reconstruction was not the same full ligament replacement he’d undergone as a Cubs prospect in 2017, but was an internal brace procedure that typically has a much shorter recovery time. The lefty was throwing live BP during spring training and had his fastball up to 93 mph over simulated outings of three innings or so when the latest setback occurred.
Steele suffered a flexor strain in his left forearm during a late-April throwing session and was subsequently shut down for several more weeks. After working with plyos for a while, he finally resumed throwing an actual baseball on Monday. As badly as the Cubs need rotation help, Jed Hoyer knows better than to rush anything with a valuable pitcher who’s made only 91 starts out of 102 total MLB appearances since 2021.
“I’d say hopeful,” Hoyer told reporters last week when Steele rejoined the team in Chicago. “‘Optimism’ might be strong. He’s had some setbacks. The hope is he can avoid setbacks and help us later in the season.”
And though Steele has expressed confidence in his ability to be the same bulldog who looked the part of staff ace from 2022-24, maturity and experience have imbued him with pragmatism and perspective. He’s got two young kids and a long life after baseball, which seems to have granted him a sense of peace in what would otherwise be a very frustrating period.
‘‘I can do my best to take care of my body, put myself in the best positions possible, work my tail off, but some things are just going to happen, and there’s not much you can do,’’ Steele said last weekend. ‘‘How it goes from this point is not necessarily up to me.’’
The Cubs can’t be targeting anything before the All-Star break, and even a return before the trade deadline might be pie in the sky at this point. Getting Steele back in late July would be almost like acquiring an arm from another team, and it could provide an even bigger emotional boost. Of course, the Cubs will have to remain in contention until then.
They currently have a tenuous grasp on the final Wild Card spot by virtue of a tiebreaker over the Padres and Nationals, but there are three other teams within 1.5 games of them. Getting Matthew Boyd back will help, and that should happen by this weekend at the latest. Then it’s just a matter of the bats waking up for more than a game or two at a time.
Steele will be a very welcome addition to the staff at whatever point he’s ready to return, even if it’s just in a relief or piggyback role.
“It’s probably unrealistic to think he’s going to be fully stretched out at any point,” Hoyer told 104.3 The Score’s Mully & Haugh on Tuesday. “If he does help us, I think it’s going to be in shorter bursts.”
As long as those bursts come in meaningful games, I think everyone will be happy.
