The All-Star southpaw delivered his sharpest rehab outing yet, flashing a dominant slider as he races against the clock to bolster Chicago’s bullpen for a postseason push.
It remains up in the air whether Justin Steele will pitch for the Chicago Cubs this season.
Steele, though, is doing everything he can to contribute to this Cubs bullpen down the stretch. The southpaw is working his way back from last year’s elbow surgery and a flexor strain that he suffered earlier this season.
The former All-Star just recently appeared in his fourth rehab assignment game for the Iowa Cubs. Steele had mixed results in his first three outings, allowing four earned runs with 11 strikeouts across 7 ⅔ innings pitched.
He gave up three runs (one earned run) with two strikeouts across 1 ⅔ innings in his first rehab start on September 2, threw two innings of one-run baseball with one strikeout on September 6, and allowed two runs across two innings with three strikeouts in his third rehab outing last week on September 10.
Then came Steele’s fourth rehab outing on Friday. He was supposed to pitch earlier this week, but some rain postponed back-to-back games for the Iowa Cubs. That extra rest helped the veteran post his best pitching line since coming back from injury.
Steele threw two scoreless innings with one walk and five strikeouts to kick off the first game of Friday’s doubleheader. After walking the first batter of the game, the Cubs left-hander set down six straight hitters before his exit.
He struck out the side in the first inning following that leadoff walk. He got Matthew Lugo to swing and miss on a hanging slider, got Gavin Cross to freeze on an outside slider, and got Brett Squires to swing on a slider that touched the outside part of the zone.
Steele proceeded to strike out two more batters in the bottom of the second inning, both on his slider. He struck out Peyton Wilson on a nasty slider that was way outside the zone, and Luca Tresh chased a slider below the zone to end the frame.
Friday’s rehab outing was certainly a positive one for Steele. This was easily his sharpest of his four outings, and his slider was working overtime in this contest. His four-seam fastball also topped out at 91.6 mph, which is a good sign for the left-hander.
However, time is definitely running out for Steele to make his season debut, as the Cubs only have eight games remaining on their schedule. It’s highly unlikely that the team would not have him appear in a regular season and just put him on the playoff roster.
It’s unclear what the next steps are for Steele, but he faces an uphill battle to contribute to this Cubs team in 2026 with so little time remaining in the regular season.
