Justin Steele cleared for unrestricted activities, eyes May/June return

MESA, Ariz. — The light at the end of the tunnel is beginning to show. Justin Steele shared on social media on Saturday that he had been cleared by Dr. Keith Meister for full baseball activities without restrictions. This weekend marked Steele’s final checkup with Dr. Meister, and it means he is done with visits from the Texas-based surgeon.

This is a major milestone in Steele’s progress toward returning to the mound from his April 2025 Tommy John surgery. The Cubs starter has been throwing regularly in Arizona, but Steele said a significant change now that he has been cleared is the reincorporation of his curveball with the rest of his repertoire into his bullpen sessions.

“The curveball is the only pitch I don’t have in my bullpens now, but now that I’m cleared, I’m sure I can start throwing that in by bullpens,” Steele said.

He is already built up to two innings in his bullpen sessions, so the next step, Steele said, will be building up to three and then to start putting hitters in the box as he moves into four and five inning sessions.

Given this news, Cubs fans are understandably eager to know when they might see Steele back on the mound at Wrigley Field. And as tempting for the team as it might be to add their ace lefty to the already deep fold of starting pitchers on the 2026 roster, both Steele and the team still have eyes on a late May or early June return.

The reason for that is two-fold: setbacks are still possible at this point in his rehab, so pushing the timeline ahead even further could risk that happening, and both camps want to slow play his return a little so that he has bullets left in his arm for playoff baseball.

“All of this is with the thought in mind that the outings in October and November are going to be the ones that matter most,” Steele said. “So I would say, keep that mind as we’re talking and thinking about this.”

The Cubs have the luxury of starting pitching depth that can help allow Steele to not feel as though he needs to rush back earlier in the regular season. The offseason addition of Edward Cabrera deepened the fold significantly, and guys like Collin Rea will get a lot of the starts in Steele’s spot in the rotation the first two months of the season, manager Craig Counsell said.

That kind of depth should be enough to help the Cubs win the games they need to in April and May so that Steele can return later in the year and then help the team win in the postseason. After last year’s 92-win season and coming a game shy of reaching the NLCS, the expectation in the Cubs locker room is that they’ll be playing deep into October again, and having Steele in the rotation this time around will be a difference-maker.

“The depth is just amazing this year going into the season,” Steele said. “I think we all have that in mind as the season goes. Those outings in October and November mean a lot more, so I think it’s really important that I’m hitting my stride at that point. That’s when I’m at my best because that’s what’s going to help the team.”

There’s a lot of time before this decision will have to be made, but when the Cubs break camp and head to Chicago for opening day on March 26, the team will have to put Steele on the injured list. Counsell stressed on Sunday that the next few weeks will play a very large role in dictating whether they use the 10 or 60-day IL.

The advantage to ten days is that Steele could return sooner than late May if he’s feeling ready or if there’s a need in the rotation because someone else has gone down with injury. Based on Steele’s current trajectory, he likely would be ready, but again, that’s not the plan at this point.

If Steele is placed on the 60-day injured list, that would open up a 40-man roster spot for the first two months of the season. The benefit there is that it would open room for one of the guys currently in camp fighting to make the roster who could help the team during those first two months. But, of course, it would fully prevent Steele from returning any time sooner than the end of May.

“Frankly, not quite sure what that’s going to look like yet,” Counsell said. “I think we have to get further along with [Steele] to kind of put a plan together for that. But yea, of course, it’s something we’re thinking about, and that’s a balance of some things and how hard you can push at certain times. But it’ll be a consideration and a tricky part of this, for sure.”

If, for example, Steele takes an extra day off between bullpen sessions or simulation games in the weeks to come, Cubs fans should not assume this means there has been a setback. It could be a part of the team slow-playing his return and not pushing his progress where they don’t have to.

As things currently stand, Saturday’s news marked a significant step in the right direction for both a pitcher eager to get back on the mound and a fanbase itching to see their star lefty getting outs again. Since getting the surgery last April, Steele has maintained a positive outlook throughout the rehab process. He spent time with the team at Wrigley as often as possible last season and was with the group during their playoff run. At the Cubs Convention in January, Steele said that it had been tough at times being separated from his teammates, but he focused on getting back to them in the right timeline.

Now, roughly eleven months after his Tommy John Surgery, Steele is just about there, and he is mostly feeling relieved.

“Your last doctor’s visit, it’s just kind of like a breath of fresh air, you know?” Steele said. “You just kind of feel like a baseball player again. It was just a really good day of knowing that I won’t have to go back to the doctor anymore, no checkups, anything like that. Can just kind of continue with baseball activities like a normal pitcher, a normal baseball player.”