Cubs’ Steele suffers setback in injury rehab

Posted April 28, 2026 11:03 pm

By Patrick Mooney

SAN DIEGO — While the Cubs continue to deal with a cluster of pitching injuries, the anticipated return of Justin Steele, a one-time All-Star, remains increasingly unclear.

Steele has been diagnosed with a flexor strain in his left elbow, Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday, following a visit with Dr. Keith Meister in Texas. Last April, Meister handled the season-ending surgery on Steele’s elbow.

Until recently, the Cubs had been targeting late May or early June for Steele’s return to a rotation that is already missing Cade Horton, who recently underwent season-ending surgery on his right elbow. Steele will be reevaluated in another month, though the club won’t be counting on him until sometime after the All-Star break.

“We’re going to get less of him this year,” Counsell said, “but still plenty of time to get back for this year.”

Steele, now 30, previously underwent Tommy John surgery while he was a young prospect in Chicago’s farm system. He gradually developed into a frontline starting pitcher, finishing fifth in the National League’s 2023 Cy Young Award voting.

Steele last pitched in the majors on April 7, 2025, and the Cubs don’t know when he will do so again. He felt some discomfort over the weekend after a bullpen session.

“For Justin, it’s just frustrating,” Counsell said. “During the course of these rehabs, there are always good days and bad days that you navigate through. But when you start getting back to where Justin was — and getting fairly close to getting back into competition — you think you’ve kind of crossed some of those (checkpoints). Unfortunately, we’ve just hit another speed bump here, and it’s going to take longer.”

The issues with Chicago’s pitching staff were not as noticeable during the club’s 10-game winning streak that ended during this West Coast trip. The Cubs then allowed 27 runs combined in three consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Heading into Tuesday night’s game at Petco Park, in addition to Steele and Horton, the Cubs had eight other pitchers on their 40-man roster who are currently on the injured list:

• Hunter Harvey (right triceps inflammation)

• Porter Hodge (season-ending elbow surgery)

• Riley Martin (flexor strain in his left elbow)

• Shelby Miller (recovering from Tommy John surgery)

• Daniel Palencia (lat strain)

• Ethan Roberts (right middle finger laceration)

• Caleb Thielbar (left hamstring strain)

• Jordan Wicks (left forearm inflammation)

Although active now, Opening Day starter Matthew Boyd (left biceps strain) and reliever Phil Maton (right knee tendinitis) spent time on the injured list in April. The organization’s top pitching prospect, Jaxon Wiggins, is on Triple-A Iowa’s injured list.

“When you have a lot of injuries, of course, we try to examine everything we’re doing,” Counsell said. “I think that you should. When you’re having success, struggles, the same injury, yeah, absolutely you try to make sure your processes are good and you’re not doing anything that would — I don’t want to say create injuries — but make players more exposed to injuries. I don’t have an answer.”