It’s been a rocky start to the season for Justin Steele, and just as things were looking up, they’re suddenly once again looking pretty glum. On Wednesday morning, the veteran was placed on the 15-day IL with left elbow tendinitis.
Steele was roughed up in his first three outings of 2025, which includes a start against the Dodgers in the Tokyo Series in Japan. Maybe the jet lag finally wore off, because the left-hander was dominant in his most recent outing, tossing seven scoreless innings versus the Rangers on Monday. Steele struck out eight in that contest.
The 29-year-old has quietly been one of the best pitchers in the National League the past three seasons and Chicago will miss him dearly if this ailment turns into anything long term. In 2024, across 24 starts, Steele posted a 2.74 xERA that was the sixth-lowest mark for any pitcher with at least 100 innings thrown. From 2022 to 2024, Steele registered a 3.10 ERA. For some context, that was better than Gerrit Cole’s 3.12 ERA in the same span of time.
