The Chicago Cubs figure to have a deep and well-rounded starting rotation as they head into a 2026 season where expectations are high. They’d really like for Justin Steele to be a part of the team’s success. Actually, some think that the lefty might help push the team to that success.
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Steele went down with an elbow injury last season after just four starts, forcing the Cubs to scramble and find an emergency rotation replacement or two. Subsequent elbow surgery (ulnar collateral ligament revision repair) put him on the shelf for the rest of the year.
Hopes were high, though, that the Cubs’ ace could make a full recovery and be a big part of a 2026 squad aiming for a deep postseason run. The 30-year-old has been Chicago’s most reliable and effective starter through the last four seasons, posting a 3.18 ERA over 82 starts in that span of time. A full comeback would be a huge boost to the team’s chances for success.
Justin Steele faces live batters
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On Friday, Steele took another big step in the direction of a return. For the first time since he was given medical clearance to resume pitching activities, he faced live batters.
With several teammates in attendance, the southpaw threw 19 pitches to Michael Busch and Jonathon Long, notching three strikeouts and provoking some uncomfortable swings.
It was a small sample size of pitches, which was to be expected, but everything went well and, reportedly, he already looks to have some of his old mojo back.
“Looks like Justin,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy told reporters with a smile. “There’s days where he has really good cut to the fastball and gets weak contact. And there’s days where it has a little more carry, where you get more swing and miss. I thought today, you kind of saw a little bit of both.”
“I think it went as well as he could have wanted it and hoped for it to go,” Hottovy added. “Now it’s just continuing to build off every outing, every live BP and making sure we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
“Another box to check,” Steele told media after the outing. “Felt good today, that’s the main thing — I was throwing strikes, putting the fastball where I wanted to for the most part. Just excited about it.
“I’ve worked really hard to come back as fast as I could and as strong as I could. It was really cool to see all my teammates and coaches come out to watch.”
Nice, relaxed return
Steele, who had full Tommy John surgery back in 2017, says that the recovery process this time around is going much smoother, thanks in great part to knowing what to expect and how to handle his limitations.
It also helps that there’s no rush to get him back on the mound.
With the Cubs rotation sporting five capable starters (Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon, and Shota Imanaga) as well as several solid backups (Javier Assad, Colin Rea, Ben Brown), Steele can take his time and make sure that he’s truly at 100% before getting back into the thick of things. Right now, the target remains May-June for his return
The Cubs will eventually have to figure out what to do with the surplus of starters when their ace comes back, but that’s certainly a good problem to have.
For now, the Cubs move forward and Steele keeps working to get back.
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