LOS ANGELES — Chicago Cubs pitcher Justin Steele will undergo season-ending surgery to fix lingering issues with his left elbow and forearm, manager Craig Counsell announced Sunday at Dodger Stadium.
This course of action removes an All-Star left-hander from the top of the rotation at a time when the first-place Cubs (11-7) are off to a fast start and feeling pressure to make a full-season playoff tournament for the first time since 2018.
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At this point, Counsell said, it’s unclear whether this will be a second Tommy John surgery for Steele, 29, who underwent that procedure as a minor-league prospect in 2017. This surgery, scheduled for Friday with Dr. Keith Meister, will repair Steele’s flexor tendon and involve his ulnar collateral ligament.
“There will be a better timetable after his surgery,” Counsell said. “I think the doctor goes in and kind of figures out (exactly) what he has to do. They have to address the UCL — I think there’s varying degrees of that.”
Besides the Tommy John history in his medical file, Steele spent time on the injured list with a strained left forearm (June 2023) and left elbow tendinitis (September 2024). He then adjusted his offseason throwing program to maintain a certain baseline and prepare for the early ramp-up ahead of the Tokyo Series.
By Steele’s fourth start of the season, his left elbow flared up again. Throwing seven scoreless innings against the Texas Rangers last week couldn’t eliminate his discomfort. At first, Steele and the Cubs hoped it would be a minimum stay on the 15-day injured list with left elbow tendinitis. Perhaps the cold weather at Wrigley Field that night was a factor.
Steele went for an MRI evaluation on Thursday, which showed changes from the end of last season, according to Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy. Counsell described it as a “deteriorating situation.”
Justin Steele will undergo season-ending surgery to repair his left elbow, Cubs manager Craig Counsell announced today at Dodger Stadium.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 13, 2025
In recent days, the mood shifted from cautious optimism about a quick recovery to a feeling of inevitability. Steele undergoing a major surgery became a matter of when, not if.
“It’s just so important for Justin to get answers,” Hottovy said. “You start putting the pieces together in your head: ‘OK, if this is going to keep happening, if it’s going to get a little worse every single time, what does that mean?’
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“(If) you know there’s something going on — and there’s uncertainty of when that’s going to happen — some guys like the ability to have some control over whatever that timeline is.”
Hottovy became emotional while talking about Steele with a small group of reporters. The longtime pitching coach has overseen every stage of Steele’s major-league development, from his debut as a lefty reliever to his rotation audition after the 2021 trade deadline to his emergence as a front-line starter.
“You feel for Justin,” Hottovy said. “I wouldn’t say there’s one thing you can pinpoint: ‘Oh, it was this exact game or this throw.’ What we do as pitchers is not natural. Guys just wear that force — and the brunt of their throwing motion — differently.
“Some guys, you see it in the shoulder. Some are in the elbow — and Justin’s just one of those guys. With how he throws, the elbow has always kind of been the point where he would have the most force.”
The Cubs do not have a way to immediately and seamlessly replace Steele, who finished fifth in the 2023 National League Cy Young Award voting.
The organization, though, is confident in its game-planning system and pitching depth, which includes Colin Rea sliding into the rotation for now and Javier Assad (oblique) progressing in his minor-league rehab assignment. The club also has four more scheduled days off in April, which creates some wiggle room.
Looking ahead, recent first-round picks such as Jordan Wicks and Cade Horton should be on call at Triple-A Iowa this summer. The July 31 trade deadline will also be a big opportunity for Jed Hoyer’s front office to upgrade the rotation and improve the club’s chances in October.
“You don’t replace people like Justin Steele,” Counsell said. “The next guy has to step up. But it’s very difficult to replace that level of play. So you hope you have some options to do so. And we think we do. Those guys are going to get the next shot.”
(Photo: Norm Hall / Getty Images)
Patrick Mooney is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Chicago Cubs and Major League Baseball. He spent eight seasons covering the Cubs across multiple platforms for NBC Sports Chicago/Comcast SportsNet, beginning in 2010. He has been a frequent contributor to MLB Network, Baseball America, MLB.com and the Chicago Sun-Times News Group. Follow Patrick on Twitter @PJ_Mooney
