{"id":158091,"date":"2026-03-01T02:52:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=158091"},"modified":"2026-03-01T02:52:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T02:52:00","slug":"chicago-drops-the-bomb-cubs-ace-justin-steele-shares-major-update-after-long-elbow-surgery-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=158091","title":{"rendered":"CHICAGO DROPS THE BOMB! Cubs Ace Justin Steele Shares Major Update After Long Elbow Surgery Recovery."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"overflow-hidden\" data-lead-image=\"true\"><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"undefined w-full\" title=\"Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele.\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_1055,y_0,w_3659,h_2058\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_cubs\/01kjjzsw4m4nq25zp1cm.jpg\" alt=\"Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele.\" width=\"3659\" height=\"2058\" \/><\/picture><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex items-center gap-4 ml-1 pb-2 mt-4 md:m-3 text-grey font-group-tiny\" data-lead-image=\"true\">Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/div>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">The last couple of days have been significant for Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele, significant enough to post about it on social media.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">On Friday, Steele \u2014 who is recovering from left elbow revision surgery \u2014 threw a bullpen session at the team\u2019s facility in Mesa, Ariz. On Saturday, he revealed that his surgeon, Dr. Keith Meister, cleared him. Medically speaking, it means his injury has healed.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Steele, naturally, is excited about it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_423,y_0,w_1577,h_887\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_cubs\/01kjk0txwt2h6eyste91.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Steele\" \/><\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Justin Steele | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-4\">Justin Steele\u2019s injury recovery<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">Steele posted about his bullpen and his latest meeting with Dr. Meister on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">&#8220;Last bullet from my bullpen yesterday. Got cleared by Dr. Meister today. Good day for some reflection. Just wanna say thank you to everyone who\u2019s helped me along this journey to getting back to 100% . Coaches, trainers, staff, family, and everything in between. You all know who you are and I truly appreciate you. Also wanna thank My Lord and Savior; Jesus Christ. Without them; none of this would be possible. Jesus is the only way and always has been.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Last bullet from my bullpen yesterday. Got cleared by Dr. Meister today. Good day for some reflection. Just wanna say thank you to everyone who\u2019s helped me along this journey to getting back to 100% . Coaches, trainers, staff, family, and everything in between. You all know who\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hK6BKmIvYQ\">pic.twitter.com\/hK6BKmIvYQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Justin Steele (@J_Steele21) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/J_Steele21\/status\/2027791532980658673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 28, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">During Steele\u2019s ramp-up in the offseason, Cubs manager Craig Counsell didn\u2019t offer a timeline for the left-hander to join the rotation. He said it wouldn\u2019t be opening day, but it was possible he could join the rotation in the first half of the season.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">This was Steele\u2019s second significant elbow surgery. He had his first in 2017, which was a full Tommy John surgery. His surgery last year was a revision to fix the existing ligament. Dr. Meister, who also performed the surgery, has helped pioneer the revision procedure and is one of the top sports surgeons in the game. He also happens to be the team surgeon for the Texas Rangers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">The revision may allow Steele to return a bit sooner than a typical Tommy John surgery, which requires 12 to 18 months to heal. He had his surgery last April, so sometime during the first half of the season could be between 12 to 15 months after the procedure.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\">Chicago doesn\u2019t have to rush the left-hander as the Cubs have ample depth in the starting rotation. Chicago has seven healthy arms on its starting rotation depth chart, including Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Edward Cabrera, Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Colin Rea and Javier Assad. Two long relievers \u2014 Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown \u2014 can fill in to start, too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_566,w_7122,h_4006\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_cubs\/01kjk0pyf8sgtdx5d0cm.jpg\" alt=\"Justin Steele\" \/><\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>Justin Steele | Matt Marton-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\">Steele went 3-1 with a 4.76 ERA in four starts last season before he suffered the injury. He struck out 21 and walked five in 22.2 innings.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\">His breakthrough season was in 2023, when he went 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 30 starts, with 176 strikeouts and 36 walks in 173.1 innings. He made the National League All-Star team for the first time and finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\">The Cubs\u2019 fifth-round pick in 2014 is 32-22 in 102 games (91 starts) with 517 strikeouts and 155 walks in 506.2 innings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele. | Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images The last couple of days have been significant for Chicago Cubs left-hander Justin Steele, significant enough to post&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>CHICAGO DROPS THE BOMB! 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