Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele knows he can be successful utilizing more than one approach on the mound.
From one start to the next, Steele might aim to yield contact and quick outs or look to expose a lineup with swings and misses that produce strikeouts. The 26-year-old rookie is equipped to adopt either approach, and it’s part of the promise he has shown and why he figures to factor into the Cubs’ rotation plans for 2022.
For Steele, the next step is going deeper into games. He pitched into the sixth inning for the first time Monday against the Cincinnati Reds but wasn’t able to record an out, allowing all four batters he faced to reach base. He exited after 78 pitches, 14 of which came in the final inning.
“I mean, at some point in my career, I think it’d be really important cool to throw a complete game,” Steele said. “That’s where my head’s at. I want to go deeper into games. I want to be that starting pitcher that everybody can rely on every time the mound. I want to be known for my consistency.”
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Steele felt he would have lasted longer Monday if he didn’t force things and get away from what made him successful through the first five innings. When elaborating on what he forced during his wayward sixth, Steele explained how he on the mound thinking, “Make this pitch do this.” This mentality resulted in Steele trying to make a pitch nastier than he needed to — and hitting two batters in the process — rather than keeping his focus on executing a good one.
Steele’s reflection and diagnosing why he got off track is good for a player’s self assessment. Unlocking the path to more consistent efficiency and giving the Cubs more innings in his starts are part of a starting pitcher’s development.
“For me, the key to that is understanding what team is he going to face and execute the scouting report that we have,” catcher Willson Contreras said Tuesday. “Obviously we need to be aware of what pitches are working today or which pitches are not working so that’s an adjustment that comes in the game.”
The bright spots from Steele’s starts contrast the struggles rookie right-hander Keegan Thompson has too often endured in his own transition from the Cubs bullpen to the rotation. Thompson’s progression is on pause after he landed on the injured list Saturday with shoulder inflammation. Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said Thompson was not physically recovering after his starts like they wanted. His time on the IL gives Thompson a chance to reset, Hottovy noted, and not go on a “downward spiral” that would be difficult to break out of down the stretch.
“The goal for me for Keegan this last month is to finish strong. I don’t want a guy feeling like he has to grind through a stretch when he’s maybe not quite feeling 100% recovered, I guess is the way I would describe it,” Hottovy said Sunday. “So it allows him to let things kind of calm down, recover, work on some things we want to work on mechanically and do a lot of dry work and things like that. I don’t foresee it being anything that’s too long.”
The instruction and work between starts is a particularly valuable part of the process for starting pitchers, particularly ones who are younger and less experienced. When Thompson wasn’t feeling great after his outings since moving into the rotation Aug. 21, it affected his between-starts volume and workload.
“We all want to be able to get the work in that we need to that we feel is going to make him successful and then be ready 100% when that game time shows up,” Hottovy said.
While Steele has been steady in maintaining his fastball velocity from start to start, averaging 93.4 mph compared to 94.2 mph as a reliever, Thompson’s velocity dips have been concerning. His stuff waned over the course of the game and has featured a fastball sitting at 92.4 mph in his three starts. As a reliever, Thompson’s fastball averaged between 93.8 and 96 mph during his 26 relief appearances for the Cubs this year. A decrease in velocity is expected when a pitcher goes from throwing shorter one or two-inning outings versus trying to maintain stuff over, ideally, five-plus innings. Even so, Thompson has visibly been out of whack at times in his starting role.
“Anytime something’s off a little bit mechanically, you tend to use your arm or your shoulder a little bit more than probably you should be,” Hottovy said. “So there were some mechanical things that were just kind of not 100% right or not 100% of what we had seen early in the year that we try to work through.”
Ideally, the Cubs would rely on Steele, Thompson and right-hander Adbert Alzolay to fill key roles on next year’s pitching staff. However, that comes with the expectation they develop further and continue to improve. Expecting all three to slot into the rotation doesn’t seem realistic. It would be a largely unproven group, and with that come risk and reliability concerns.
There has been plenty to like from Steele’s five starts, though. Despite possessing strikeout stuff, he doesn’t always rely on it to be effective. Hottovy believes Steele is a good example of letting the game dictate what type of pitcher to be.
“If he wants to go out and be a swing-and-miss pitcher, he could, and he’s going to be four innings and 85 pitches at times — when you are out chasing swings and misses and chasing strikeouts, that can happen,” Hottovy said. “He also can go out and be a pitcher contact guy and be in the fifth and 60 pitches.
“The important thing as a starter is starting to understand the game state a little bit more. In the first inning, two outs, nobody on, I need an out. Strikeouts are great, but I really need the punchouts when it’s in high-leverage situations.”
Hottovy explained how showing strikeout stuff in those early spots could give the hitter an advantage in a future scenario. Instead, it can be pocketed as a weapon when that hitter comes up again — for example, with runners in scoring position and less than two outs.
“Letting the game kind of dictate that a little bit is important for these young starters to realize,” Hottovy said. “Two outs, nobody on, let’s go ahead and get strike one down and away and make him put the ball in play and trust our defense. ... That’s just part of the learning process for him and understanding those situations. He definitely has the swing-and-miss stuff. But we don’t have to use it all the time.”
Thompson’s issues before going on the IL stemmed from a different problem: struggling to throw strikes consistently. After allowing two runs in four innings in his first start after being recalled from Triple-A Iowa, Thompson surrendered eight runs (seven earned) in 3⅔ innings over his next two starts. His performance in his last start before going on the IL was particularly concerning because it came against the Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the worst offenses in the majors.
Getting Thompson on track once he returns from the IL — he’s eligible to be activated Monday — should be a priority for the Cubs during the final three weeks.
“I think he’s going to be at a much better place when he comes back,” Hottovy said. “Giving the shoulder a little bit of time to rest, we continue to work on the mechanical stuff. We want to make him as efficient as possible, and that should obviously relieve some of the stress on the shoulder.”