NEWSLETTER
And here I was thinking the only silver lining about Justin Steele’s Opening Day hamstring injury was the path it cleared for Javier Assad and Ben Brown to step into the rotation. Turns out there’s another positive with respect to how quickly he can return.
Justin Steele Updated Timeline
Last night on the broadcast, the Cubs on-field reporter, Taylor McGregor, reported on the progress of Justin Steele, who just wrapped up his first rehab appearance in extended spring training out in Arizona…
… And in her report she mentioned that if he wakes up feeling good today, Steele will soon head out to one of the Cubs minor league affiliates for another, more competitive rehab start. Normal. Expected. But then McGregor said, “the plan after that is to return to the Cubs.” Oh?
That caught me a bit off guard, because I had assumed Justin Steele would make at least two rehab starts (and even that is not particularly significant for a guy who’s missed a month). So I asked McGregor for some clarification, and she confirmed that, yes, that is the plan as of now (pending anything changing, of course): One rehab outing at an affiliate and then back to Chicago!
So why such a quick turnaround? Well, according to McGregor, because Steele’s injury was a hamstring injury (read: not an arm injury), he never really had to stop throwing while he was down. So the Cubs don’t feel like he needs as much of a ramp-up as a pitcher might if it was an arm injury. Amazing.
So this timeline would put him on track to start a game with an affiliate around May 1 (Update: Confirmed, see below) and return to the Cubs for the first game against the Padres at Wrigley Field on May 6 (he’d miss the Brewers series, which stinks, but let’s just take the good news and be happy).
UPDATE: It was expected, but now it’s confirmed. Justin Steele’s next start will be with the Iowa Cubs on Wednesday.
