MILWAUKEE — Between left-hander Justin Steele’s All-Star selection Sunday and his start Wednesday against the Brewers, praise for the homegrown Cub was easy to find.
“So happy to see that, man,” said Brewers left-hander Wade Miley, who played for the Cubs last year. “And the strides he’s taken from last year to this year, even. He was unbelievable last year, and then he’s pretty freaking dominant. He’s made himself one of the premier lefties in the game.”
Said president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer: “It’s great organizationally, and I think it’s great for Justin as someone who’s really worked hard, overcome some obstacles. It was an easy selection.”
Steele represents the Cubs on the National League All-Star team along with fellow starter Marcus Stroman — who has talked about needing a break and told the Sun-Times on Wednesday that he’d decided not to pitch in the game — and shortstop Dansby Swanson, who left the game Wednesday with a bruised left heel.
In a twist of fate, Steele was the first George County High School (Lucedale, Mississippi) alumnus to make it to the major leagues, and his high school field was named after Claude Passeau, who was the last Cubs pitcher to start the All-Star game (1946).
Now, Stroman is lobbying for Steele to be the next.
“I think it’s obvious, honestly,” Stroman told the Sun-Times.
Steele entered his start with the best ERA in the National League (2.43) and on a personal three-game winning streak. Then he held the Brewers to three runs in six innings in the Cubs’ 4-3 victory.
Other candidates to start for the National League include the Diamondbacks’ Zach Gallen and the Braves’ Spencer Strider. Gallen leads National League starters in WAR (3.4). Strider leads qualified NL starters in xFIP (2.86). Stroman couldn’t care less.
“If you just look at the numbers, if you don’t dive too deep and get too analytical and go, ‘expected this, this, this and this’ — if you go by the real numbers, he should start the NL. That’s it.”
Steele, who is in his second full major-league season, turns 28 on the day of the All-Star Game.
“But being drafted out of high school, I’ve been in this organization for almost 10 years now,” said Steele, a 2014 fifth-round draft pick. “Kind of crazy to think about.”
Steele’s journey through the system took a detour when he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017. He was throwing to hitters nine months after his surgery, he said. And he returned to game action in July of 2018.
“I remember attacking that rehab process with a lot of aggression,” he said. “I wanted to come back within the year and get back into games and give them a reason to put me on the 40-man roster. I remember thinking all that stuff because if I would have just let the year pass, not pitched competitively that year, I don’t think I would have been able to put myself in this position.”
A trio of factors combined over the past year sparked Steele’s dominant stretch. He became a father. He received advice from Cubs legend Jon Lester about establishing his fastball inside. And he honed his command of two pitches that can behave like four or five.
Steele’s fastball has always naturally had some cut to it. But he can also throw a four-seamer with ride.
“There’s definitely times I don’t know what they’re doing,” he said with a smile. “When I do know what’s going on, I’m able to command it, backdoor it, put it in on the hands of the righties, throw one that stays a little more true and gets above the barrel.”
And when he needs a put-away pitch, he can manipulate his slider to get more depth, making it move almost like a curveball.
Steele can throw a changeup, sinker or true curveball if he needs to.
“You’ve got to have two elite pitches to do stuff like that,” Miley said. “And he’s able to do it.”
