Cubs left-hander Justin Steele satisfied with first spring-training start

MESA, Ariz. — New Cubs manager Craig Counsell hasn’t known left-hander Justin Steele for long, but he already has an appreciation for how he is able to simplify the game mentally.

‘‘He creates conviction for himself,’’ Counsell said Friday. ‘‘Doesn’t allow a lot of outside noise into his equation out there, and that works. We sometimes maybe think, ‘Oh, that’s easy to do.’ How he’s doing it, it’s not that easy to do it. And so I appreciate that. It’s a sign of a clear-headed competitor.’’

Steele made his first start of spring training in the Cubs’ 10-6 victory Friday against the White Sox. He’s an obvious candidate to start Opening Day after finishing fifth in National League Cy Young voting last season, but Counsell said he’ll wait at least another turn through the rotation to name his Opening Day starter.

‘‘I think it’s earned,’’ Counsell said of his philosophy in making that decision.

Has the thought of being the Opening Day starter crossed Steele’s mind?

‘‘Not really,’’ he told the Sun-Times on Thursday. ‘‘That’s not something I really put too much emphasis on. I just like pitching, just going out there and doing my best job. If it happens, it happens.’’

No need to complicate it.

Steele had the third-best ERA (3.06) among qualified NL pitchers last season, primarily with two pitches. His four-seam fastball accounted for 62.6% of his pitches and his slider for 33.9%.

‘‘He throws the baseball in a way that it just does a little something different each time,’’ said Counsell, whose Brewers scored only three runs in three games against Steele last season. ‘‘And that is hard for hitters. Hitters don’t like what they don’t see very often.

‘‘They calibrate to a movement on a pitch, and then when it moves differently the next time, they’re never really sure what to
expect. That’s what makes it hard for them to square up the baseball on him.’’

Steele was proud of reaching the 30-start threshold for the first time in his career. This season, he’s targeting more than 180 innings — ‘‘push 200 innings,’’ he said — and surpassing 30 starts.

‘‘And then pitch in the playoffs and compile playoff innings,’’ he said.

Steele, who again worked out at the Cubs’ facility in Mesa all winter, implemented his offseason plan from last year, with a few tweaks. He added a little extra conditioning to help set him up to reach his 2024 goals.

Steele went into his start Friday looking to accomplish two things: He wanted to make sure he was at a ‘‘comfort level’’ with his four-seam fastball and slider, and he wanted to push outside of his comfort zone with his sinker and changeup.

‘‘Threw some good sinkers, some good changeups, mixed in the curveball a few times,’’ Steele said after throwing three innings.

He held the Sox hitless through 2⅓ innings, and the first of two hits he allowed in the third was a soft grounder back to him. The Sox scored two runs in the inning, one on a sacrifice fly and one on a wild pitch.

‘‘I really liked that I went back out there for the third, got the pitch count up, the three up-downs — you know, getting my body to a point where it was starting to get a little bit tired toward the end,’’ Steele said. ‘‘It’s good to get that one out of the way . . . and start building from there.”

Cubs 10, White Sox 6

• The Cubs (4-3-1) overcame issues picking up fly balls in the bright Arizona sky to beat the White Sox for the second time this spring. Several outfielders had problems with the sun, but in the fifth inning, top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong lost two fly balls, extending the Sox’ four-run rally. The Cubs scored five in the bottom half of the inning.
• Cubs reliever Adbert Alzolay was scheduled to pitch Friday, he told the Sun-Times, but he started feeling sick Thursday. The Cubs plan to push back his schedule by two days.
• Outfield prospect Owen Caissie went 2-for-3 with a home run. He’s batting .636 in Cactus League play.
• First baseman Garrett Cooper has been in camp in recent days, but the team had not yet officially announced his non-roster invite deal as of Friday evening.
• On deck: Cubs at Dodgers, 2:05 p.m. Saturday, Glendale, Marquee, Shota Imanaga vs. TBA.