Cubs' Justin Steele Hopes to Make Next Start

The Cubs' lefty was scratched ahead of a scheduled start in Sunday's Cactus League game.

Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele hopes to make his next scheduled start. The lefty was scratched in Sunday's Spring Training contest with what the team described as arm fatigue.

"You deal with stuff like that during the offseason," Steele said on Monday. "You usually just take a few days off and it's usually fine. But it's just something that, I was throwing, was kind of feeling a little tired and stuff. So, it just made sense not to push me out there. I've been built up properly. I'm up to two to three innings. I just didn't want to push it."

Cubs manager David Ross sounded optimistic that the rotation would not need to be altered.

"We'll plan a bullpen in between here, and he'll make his next start," he said.

Steele has been around the team's Spring Training complex all offseason after moving out to Mesa, Arizona.

The Cubs' lefty is coming off a tremendous second half of the 2022 season, tossing a 0.98 ERA but was prematurely shut down in September with back issues.

"We try to be as cautious as possible and take care of guys," Ross added.

"(Steele) was further along than probably anybody we had come into camp. He's thrown a lot of bullpens; he's been here all offseason, so it didn't make any sense to push even in the slightest. I think he's in a good place."

This type of setback is certainly nothing out of the ordinary for pitchers ramping up their endurance for the start of the season.

If you recall, Jon Lester dealt with the same thing in his first year with the Cubs, but made his season debut as planned without any lingering issues.

Let's hope for similar results with Steele.