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Justin Steele, Cubs Hoping to Carryover Second-Half Success

Originally posted on On Tap Sports Net | By Ryan Sikes | Last updated 2/20/23

The southpaw tossed a 0.98 ERA in the second half of 2022

Justin Steele had a second half to remember in 2022.

The left-handed hurler spun a ridiculous 0.98 ERA in 36.2 innings with 47 strikeouts while holding batters to a .235 average. Among all starting pitchers who threw at least 30.0 innings in the second half, Steele’s ERA was tops in Major League Baseball.

And while a back issue prematurely ended his season, the 27-year-old established a body of work to build on. Now it's about replicating that success over an entire season.

“I've talked plenty of people at this point,” Steele said from the Cubs’ Spring Training Complex in Mesa, Arizona.

“I mean, 34 starts and 180-plus innings is kind of my goal, and if I put myself right there, I'm putting myself and the team in a very good spot.”

Steele’s identified goals would be career bests in both categories to this point. The southpaw pitched a career-high 119.0 innings last year, including 82.1 innings in the first half.

He’s already made the necessary preparations to be set up for success, at least on paper. The Lucedale, Miss., native relocated to Mesa in the offseason to be closer to the team’s facilities and coaching staff on-site.

“I’ve been out here the whole entire time. I’ve been here five days a week the entire offseason,” said Steele.

“But it’s good to have everybody coming in, new faces, old faces… it’s always good to be back in the building and get things going.”

Featuring five pitches, Steele utilized more of his sinker and less of his slider in the first half, with mixed results. His sinker yielded a .286, .400, and .381 average-against in April, May, and June, respectively. Meanwhile, his slider saw batters hit .238, .095, and .143.

The Cubs’ coaching staff saw his slider’s success in the first half and tweaked his pitch usage. After the All-Star break, Steele used more of his slider and less of his sinker. Batters hit .094 and .154 off his slider in July and August, respectively.

Throughout last season, Steele progressively added more spin to his slider, making this pitch nearly unhittable. Per Baseball Savant, his slider generated 5.5 inches more — or 64 percent more — horizontal movement than the MLB average.

Utilizing less of his sinker worked out wonderfully, yielding a .000 and .200 average against in the second half. Steele featured his sinker just 13 times in the month of July - a significant drop from a season-high 51 in June - and didn't allow a hit.

Most of the national attention was on the Cubs’ intentions at the trade deadline, including the prolonged goodbye to catcher Willson Contreras that ultimately only happened in the offseason.

Steele’s second-half success was, in a sense, synonymous with the team’s success after the All-Star break. The trade came and went, and the Cubs were generally quiet. No Willson Contreras trade. No Ian Happ trade.

The north siders rallied around being the team everyone wrote off, going 39-31 over the final 70 games. The same team that went 35-57 and averaged 4.20 runs before the All-Star break averaged less offense at 3.87 runs per game in the second half. However, Cubs pitching made tremendous leaps in the second half, yielding 3.70 runs per game compared to 5.13 before the All-Star break.

“We opened a lot of eyes in the second half after making trades,” Steele said of the team.

“We were still going out there competing every single day, and we showed a lot of people a lot of things.

“I think what we did in the second half made free agents look at us and want to come here, and they saw something forming, and I think they wanted to be a part of it.”