Cubs pitcher Justin Steele: Recovery life, MVP’ish PCA, Card love

00:00:00
Speaker 1: Where the Cubs are at. Like adding Kyle Tucker obviously puts you in a great position to you know, win a division and stuff. But what Pa has been able to do this entire season has propelled us so much further than what everybody thought. It was going to.

00:00:17
Speaker 2: Great to have you on. And actually I see myself right behind me. So awesome to see that word right now.

00:00:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, we have foul territory in the locker room. It's nice to formally meet all of you. I don't think I've formally met all you. Also, it's nice to meet you.

00:00:33
Speaker 3: Yes, actually I actually think we have met before. Justin we actually shook hands once, but you don't remember. So tells you how big.

00:00:41
Speaker 1: Of a sorry now I feel. I feel terrible now, I'm till fine.

00:00:46
Speaker 3: You don't listen, don't worry about it. It wasn't It was in passing. We were in the Cubs locker room. I think I was with John.

00:00:52
Speaker 1: Lest I remember. It's coming back to him. Yeah, it's coming back to me now. I remember it now.

00:00:57
Speaker 2: And Justin he played for the for the White I do I do know that.

00:01:04
Speaker 4: Anyway, let's start here. Uh all right, Jay, you want to go first?

00:01:07
Speaker 1: I was just gonna.

00:01:07
Speaker 3: Ask, Yeah, what's life like on rehab?

00:01:13
Speaker 1: I'm doing great rehabs, going amazing, crushing it every day here at the cility. Now, I was just on the treadmill getting my run in. But go in there and do my rehab, hopping on doing this interview in the meantime. But I mean it's going great. Every day I show up, I just tell them I'm like another week ahead of schedule. So at this point, I'm like four weeks ahead of schedule. So maybe a playoff push or something.

00:01:35
Speaker 4: Hey, yeah, is there a chance do you do you have that conversation?

00:01:39
Speaker 2: I guess Trevor, you can comment on this after Justin does, but can you try can you be like, hey, is there any scenario in the world where I can try to come back sooner?

00:01:49
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, yeah, jokingly, every day I'm like throwing Monday. I'm throwing next Monday, right, and like everybody just kind of laughs at it and stuff. But I mean, I'm working my tail off. I mean, the first Timy John I had in twenty seventeen, I was back in game action at like seven and a half eight months, was back into afhiliate in nine or ten months. So I mean when it comes to rehab, I work really hard at this stuff and want to be back playing with the team, especially the way they're playing right now and stuff. But yeah, I mean, everything's going great.

00:02:19
Speaker 5: I got a two parter first for it sounds like you rehab. You like to work hard, but you don't like to necessarily not be on the mount. I believe I saw a video maybe your wife took it. You were in your you were in your brace, and you were pacing in front of the TV watching the Cubs game. And I distinctly remember that. By the way, I also had Tommy John at twenty seventeen and it took me sixteen months.

00:02:40
Speaker 4: So hip the Caps.

00:02:42
Speaker 5: I guess, first question, who.

00:02:44
Speaker 1: Did your surgery? Meister did this one, and then doctor Grizzload doctor Grizzlod did the first one. Who's the Cubs doctor in twenty seventeen? Gotcha?

00:02:55
Speaker 5: Uh so yeah, Keith Meister also did mine, So good good luck trying to speed that timeline on. That guy is maybe one of the one of the most intense people I've ever met. But my question is, what is the hardest part about going through this process, especially again, especially in the big leagues with how good the team is. Like, what has been the most difficult part of going through it.

00:03:18
Speaker 1: Probably just being away from the team and also not being able to do like normal activities that I like to do, Like playing video games is something I like to do all the time, so I haven't been able to do that. Really, I've really been getting into collecting cards. That's something I've been able to really get into. But yeah, I mean the hardest part is being away from the team by far, And you know, I just want to be in the locker room with the guys, even if I'm not able to play, just you know, picking spirits up, you know, telling people good job and whatnot. That's by far been the hardest part. But there's also been a lot of positives' you know, watching my son grow up, taking him to school each morning or summer school or whatever. But uh, yeah, there's there's negatives and positives. So you just got to weigh it.

00:03:57
Speaker 3: Justin can you explain to the people out there and explain it to me. You didn't have full Tommy John this time, correct, You had like a did you do the bracing or did you do something even different?

00:04:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the UCL repair from my first one. The tendon or ligament was still in good, good shape where it connects to my form muscle, my form flexer. Both of them came off the bone together, so he had to go in and put a brace on the bone and then like wrap it around. He showed me a picture of all of it. It was I have a stomach. I have a week's stomach when it comes to that stuff. And he was like very excited to show me, and I'm like, I'm write out of surgery. I'm like, I don't know if I need to be looking at this right now. But it was.

00:04:42
Speaker 5: Quite He's got a notebook, he's got like he's like you want to take.

00:04:47
Speaker 1: He's excited, he's excited to show you.

00:04:49
Speaker 5: It's like a favorite thing to do surgery. And you're like, dude, that was me six hours ago. Like I don't want to see that. That's hilarious. That is so funny.

00:04:57
Speaker 1: I know. I was like, I was like, you enjoy this, don't you? And he was like, oh, this is art. I was like yeah, I can tell yeah, oh yeah.

00:05:04
Speaker 5: She had the she had the brakes, or you had the you had an evulsion where it games wholly off and then he re attached it on.

00:05:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was. He could called it a revision repair. So not a Tommy John surgery, just a revision repair of the Tommy John surgery and the flexor.

00:05:22
Speaker 5: Uh did you get it?

00:05:24
Speaker 6: So?

00:05:24
Speaker 5: Did this did this require no? So, no ligament out of anywhere?

00:05:28
Speaker 1: No?

00:05:29
Speaker 5: No, okay, I think thank god, that's the worst part. So so good. So Uh but the first time, did you have it either wrist or the knee.

00:05:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, he took it out of my saying the left arm, so I didn't have to rehab. No, you never had. You never had to be Yeah. And if it would have been the case this time, he would have took it out of my right arm, so it would have been another like easy process.

00:05:53
Speaker 3: Great new pictures, Your pictures you should have got out of like a cadaver, don't they I thought they.

00:05:58
Speaker 6: I just thought they just take them out of like.

00:05:59
Speaker 3: Cadaver and stuff. I don't know, you guys don't know what You guys are crazy pitchers.

00:06:03
Speaker 6: What do you do though? What do you do?

00:06:04
Speaker 3: The teams in Saint Louis. You're clearly in Chicago in the in the are you in the Chicago and the.

00:06:10
Speaker 1: Cubs I'm in Arizona, Arizona.

00:06:12
Speaker 6: Oh you're in Arizona.

00:06:13
Speaker 3: What the heck do you do in They're like, what the heck do you do? When they're on? Do you I know there's the video? Do you watch every game?

00:06:20
Speaker 6: And are you grinding through?

00:06:21
Speaker 3: And you're saying like, man, if I was pitching, I would have thrown this pitch. I would have thrown that pitch. Or are you you try because I know some guys try to disengage and some guys try to be there for their guys.

00:06:32
Speaker 1: So during season, when I'm with the team, I obviously watch all of our games that we're playing, but I don't watch any other baseball games. Really, I'm just paying attention to what our team's doing. Since I've been down, I've been watching so much more baseball, and especially when the Cubs are on, I'll have them on the TV in the women room and kind of like what he was saying, I'm pacing back and forth. I'm telling my wife, like what should be happening, Like I'm calling I'm like calling the mountain visits before they happen and stuff. And my wife's just like she finds it hilarious. She's videoing me all the time and posted it and stuff. So I mean, yeah, I mean when the cubch Gome's on, I'm literally right in front of the tv, you know, with the dog or with my son, and I'm watching intensely, just you know, trying to get the dub.

00:07:15
Speaker 2: I love that, Hey, question for you, it's kind of going back to the surgery for a moment. We've had Keith Meister on this show and he's talked about, you know, the arm injury epidemic that we dealt with in the sport. Of course, it's very real. You guys had to start your season a little bit early in Tokyo. Do you think that was difficult for you? I know you can't really put any math to it, but is it worth even asking someone like your doctor, Hey, can something like that throw me off?

00:07:42
Speaker 4: Or is this something that was going to happen regardless.

00:07:46
Speaker 1: I think this was something that was gonna happen regardless. I think I've kind of been dealing with it for a while. I've had some aisle stints in the past seasons, and it was the same thing that I was feeling, and I think it's just gradually gotten obertime. And you know, the moments before this one, we were just kind of doing what we could to maintain it and you know, keep me pitching and stuff, and yeah, this time it just kind of got to a point where, you know, it's the beginning of the season. Do we really want to push it six more months and whatnot? But yeah, I don't think the Tokyo series had, you know, any bearing on it.

00:08:22
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00:08:32
Speaker 4: Take us through it.

00:08:33
Speaker 6: It was simple.

00:08:33
Speaker 3: I just clicked on which slab pack I wanted, clicked by now boom, bought it card. Little pack starts spinning, you hit open, and then it goes off psychedelic on you.

00:08:44
Speaker 6: It's a little funny, and then the card appears and I got a Robin Yelt Rookie car.

00:08:48
Speaker 4: Yeah, you did it awesome.

00:08:50
Speaker 2: And then right after that experience, I saw the little buy back and you said, NA, hold on to this for now.

00:08:56
Speaker 6: Hold on is robbin me outs in the Hall of Fame.

00:08:58
Speaker 3: He's not getting any more rookie cards, so I'm gonna stick with it for a little bit so you have the price might start just going up a little bit.

00:09:05
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00:09:24
Speaker 5: We can talk about surgery all day. I know that it gets old after a while. I'm sure you've talked about it quite a lot recently. So I actually have a pitching question because, to be honest, when I watch you pitch, I am fascinated. The way I try to like figure out what type of pitcher a guy is is by looking at the metrics on the pitches, and you are kind of an outlier in that it seems like you have variations of all of your pitches, so correct me if I'm wrong. When you are going out and like, for example, your slider, you have the one that's bigger the one that's smaller, the one's a little harder. Are these are these different grips or is this just like slight adjustments you're making in the grips to get that get the type of pitch you're trying to do, because it seems very very purposeful, like sometimes it's the cutter, sometimes it's slider, even though they move similarly, just it seems like you're doing it on purpose. Is that? Is that what's happening.

00:10:14
Speaker 1: When things are going well, I'm doing it on purpose, Like when I have command of all my pitches, if I'm in a groove and know where everything's going, Like, yeah, I'm doing it on purpose. At that point, there's definitely outings where you know you're a pitcher, we definitely don't have our best stuff. Sometimes I'm just trying to throw strikes and you know, make competitive pitches, and you know, you definitely have your outings like that. But definitely, when I'm in the zone and stuff, I'm there's a lot of intent behind what I'm doing. It's the same grips. I'm just manipulating the ball in different ways, kind of just having when you're in a groove, you have like maximum feel for your pitches and stuff. So just depend on what the hitter's telling me, where's swing pass going. The catcher's also paying a lot of attention to what he's doing, Like if we're constantly busting them in with my forcing cutter on the inside part of the play, talking about rieties, you know, they're wide open, they're looking for the slider, the cutter. You know, let's just go to the other side of the plate, back door the cutter. It looks like it's a mile off the plate, ends up coming back fresh strike. I mean, obviously, like I said, this is when you're in a groove and you're feeling good. But yeah, there's definitely some intent behind it, you know, taking taking some miles per hour off the slider to get him more out in front, throwing a harder one to make it look more like the fastball, and all that tunnel and stuff. So just a bunch of nerd stuff.

00:11:24
Speaker 3: Justin when I watch you pitch, you remind me of John Lester pitching. Did he help you with anything? Did you kind of formulate your game around what he did? Because I caught him and he was heaters in heaters in heaters in cutters in cutters in and then like you said, once he got the right he's especially looking for that pitch. Then he would go to the back door cutter of the slower curveball and heck, eventually he even threw some changeups which were unheard of.

00:11:47
Speaker 6: So did he did? You kind of put your game out there and say, man, John Lester is a.

00:11:51
Speaker 3: Great role model for what I can do.

00:11:54
Speaker 1: Well. Not long after the Cubs drafted me, they signed John Lester, So I was watching a lot of him, you know, pitch with the Cubs in the big leagues and stuff. So I mean we're very similar, like in our athleticism or arm path how we pitch and stuff.

00:12:07
Speaker 6: You can throw the first, you can throw the first. You can throw the first.

00:12:11
Speaker 5: Got that on him?

00:12:11
Speaker 6: You're one up.

00:12:14
Speaker 1: It's not it's not great.

00:12:15
Speaker 6: No, you can do it. You can't do it though, So you're one up on Johnny.

00:12:19
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's funny. But yeah, I mean, just watching him coming up through the my leagues and stuff, I definitely took a lot of what he what he did and implemented it into my game. And once I got to the big leagues. You know, he was always texting Rossy Collin Rassey and you know, giving his input on what I should be doing and stuff. And I remember when I first got to the big leagues, he uh got a hold of Rossie and was like, hey, you know, I like what Stewie's doing. Just come to like pound the fastball in and then it will unlock everything else. And that was about the time I kind of took off.

00:12:49
Speaker 6: Nice.

00:12:49
Speaker 3: Nice, all right, you mentioned you watch all the Cubs games. They just played the Mariners. Cal Rawley's the hottest dude on the planet right now, hitting homers.

00:12:57
Speaker 1: Not being talked about enough.

00:12:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree he should be MVP. Diff definitely a discussion. But when you're watching these games, you're pacing around, are you going don't throw.

00:13:06
Speaker 6: That pitch because he's gonna go deep again? Don't know. You gotta get it in, you gotta get it way off the plate in there.

00:13:12
Speaker 1: I'm not guilty of that. I will say that. I would say there's more of like I talk about the intent of pitches and what I'm wanting to do and stuff. But just because like I'm kind of what Trevor was saying, I'm a little bit different as a pitcher than most what I would throw is not what most people would throw on certain occasions now, like with Jamo for instance, Like I know jim O pretty well, Like I know when he's gonna throw that back door cutter before he throws it, so like that kind of stuff, Like I'm I can tell when he's about to throw it, or he's gonna throw the slider and stuff like that. So in that capacity, I.

00:13:46
Speaker 2: Do, Okay, I'm gonna go right to another MVP caliber player in show Heyo Tani, because I think that you were into trying out to way status if you ended up going to school.

00:14:03
Speaker 4: Do I have that part right?

00:14:05
Speaker 1: Yeah? I was going to college. Do both?

00:14:07
Speaker 4: Okay, So what's your appreciation level?

00:14:10
Speaker 2: And do you monitor or keep track of what Showhy's doing, because obviously it's so unique, But to me, it's not just the two way. It's that he's coming off all these surgeries. There's nothing for them to point to, and I feel like most of the time they're just like, hey, what do you want to do?

00:14:26
Speaker 4: Do an inning? All right, we'll do an inning in a real game instead of a SIME game.

00:14:30
Speaker 1: Well, you got to think about with him, it's hard for him to like get to a minor league affiliate and like do rehab starts. I was actually thinking about that because I was like, why are they just going straight to him like one inning start, one inning opener, or whatever the way they did it. And I was like, well, I guess it'd be really hard to like send him to a minor league affiliate or somewhere else to get the work done. Like one if people catch window that, it's going to be a circus because he's literally one of the biggest athletes on Earth right now. And just to kind of answer your first question, know that, I mean, he's the modern day Baby Ruth. He's the greatest player we've ever seen. We've never seen somebody do what he does at this level, and the hardest thing is staying healthy. Like that's the thing that's most impressive about what he's doing, is he's when he's able to do both sides of the ball. Staying healthy is by far the most impressive thing that he's doing when he's able to do that, because I only throw every fifth day and it's hard to stay healthy, Like it's one hundred and sixty two games is such a long season, and for me, that's by far the most impressive thing about it.

00:15:31
Speaker 6: All right, justin I got to ask you for Misissippi.

00:15:34
Speaker 3: My daughter went to Mississippi State, so I have a little bit of insight here, even though I have a Florida shirt on. Now, your dad played football at Alabama?

00:15:41
Speaker 6: Who do you rootless? Because I need to know. These are the questions that I need to know. Who do you root for?

00:15:46
Speaker 1: I'm a diehard Bama fan. I don't root for Mississippi schools.

00:15:51
Speaker 3: Oh, okay, is that weird growing up Misissippian rooting for Alabama.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: I mean everybody where I grew up knew who my dad was and stuff, so knew the explanation already and stuff. But I mean, yeah, definitely going to school, you know, in high school and stuff, the rivalries and whatnot, it was it was always interesting. College football is religion where I grew up, so it's a big deal.

00:16:12
Speaker 3: Of course, these Northerners, they don't get it. These people from New Jerseys, you just don't understand. It's different. It just it just means more, as they say in the commercials. But yeah, I've been to a few Alabama games and it is an unbelievable sph.

00:16:23
Speaker 6: I've been to the Iron Bowl, a few times. It is. I was an Alabama LSU two years ago. It is. It is one of the best atmospheres in the world, and if you haven't been to one, you gotta go. So I needed to know that. So thank you. And by the way, go Gators.

00:16:38
Speaker 1: There you go, don't I don't. I'm open to criticism by Go Gators. This Jack Jack Kaggling on, I'm really excited watching him play in the big leagues right now. I know he went to Ford and stuff, but I mean, I feel like people don't realize that that guy's got a hundred in his back pocket. That guy was throwing like one hundred miles an hour. So I'm really excited to see what he can do.

00:16:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're gonna see it in the outfield.

00:16:58
Speaker 2: I mean, he made a sick catch other day too against the wall, but we're gonna at least get to see the canon in the outfield.

00:17:04
Speaker 3: And just please be at Florida State. Please please have Alabama be Florida State opening week, please, because the quarterback FORFSU was already talking smack and I saw that and I'm not a Florida State fan. My my wife went to Florida State, so we have arguments, but please just win Week one.

00:17:20
Speaker 6: After that, it's all.

00:17:21
Speaker 1: Good, Okay.

00:17:24
Speaker 2: I got one fan question here on chap BCC. Lance asked how fun has it been watching Pete Crow Armstrong. I mean, to see his rise obviously has been insane.

00:17:34
Speaker 1: We're we're just talking about Otani being MVP caliber. I mean, in my opinion, I think is the favorite right now. The way he's playing where the Cubs are at, Like adding Kyle Tucker obviously puts you in a great position to you know, win a division and stuff. But what Pa has been able to do this entire season has propelled us so much further than what everybody thought it was going to. I mean, he's playing an MVP caliber D fence. He's the best defender on earth. Like, I've never seen someone play the outfield the way this kid plays it. And the pat is obviously coming around. He has twenty one homers already anyways, a Bucks seventy, So like the hype on him needs to continue to go up.

00:18:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, you look at him and you're like, oh, I mean he's got a lead speed. He's going to be a slap hitter and just get on base all the time. It's like, ah, no, his power is insane.

00:18:23
Speaker 1: What past Chicago athlete would y'all compare him to?

00:18:29
Speaker 4: Bringing the others, especially a j as.

00:18:32
Speaker 3: Far as as far as Derek Rose, Dereck Rose comes to my mind. No, I don't do that because Derek Rose his career ended abruptly, Like that's what I was thinking of it before.

00:18:49
Speaker 1: More like, yeah, he was electric, true, true dynamic.

00:18:54
Speaker 3: Yeah I was gonna yeah, yeah, I can see that.

00:18:58
Speaker 6: But just listen.

00:18:59
Speaker 3: I've been clear for him to win MVP the whole year since it started, So I'm behind you on that one.

00:19:04
Speaker 6: Listen. Everyone's already's like show, hey, show, hey.

00:19:06
Speaker 3: This and that, But I'm like, listen, PCA with what he does on defense is unbelievable, and if he keeps swinging the bat, it's it's incredible, No doubt.

00:19:16
Speaker 2: I got one more than Trevor will finish. You were on the Marquee broadcast recently, so we're seeing some pictures pop up on games. I know Garrett Cole was on the Yankees broadcast the other day. How was that experience for you? And I know we're years and years away, but do you ever have any broadcast thoughts on your mind?

00:19:37
Speaker 4: For post career. If not, what would it be.

00:19:40
Speaker 1: I don't know. I definitely enjoyed doing it, especially, you know, just going back to Chicago, visiting everybody, saying hello to everybody. It was nice, getting on the broadcast and doing that and stuff. I don't know if it's something I would do in the future or not. It just depends on how everything plays out and stuff. But I'll keep that door open. I guess love that.

00:20:01
Speaker 6: Love that so much.

00:20:03
Speaker 5: It's fun. It's fun, especially when you get to talk about pitching all the time. It sounds like you like talking about pitching, so maybe there's something out there. Although, uh, let's talk about the cards real quick. You mentioned you've been collecting cards a lot since surgery. Is this is this Is this a hobby you already had or is this like, Hey, I'm going all in on this.

00:20:19
Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: So, my dad, my brother, and myself used to collect cards when we were growing up. We would always go to the local flea market when we were kids and get cards that way, and then obviously buying them at Walmart and stuff. And then when twenty twenty happened, you know, the hobby really, you know, ignited again and I got back into it started going through my old cards, started you know, looking over what they were worth, and really got back into it, and it's kind of just taken off since then. I mean, my collection's insane at this point. It's been spending way too much money on it, honestly. But you know, it's all right.

00:20:52
Speaker 3: You'll be all right, Hey, you'll be right by the way, armand armand and the chat said PCA is Jonathan Taze from the Blackhawks. I'm going Patrick Kane from the Blackhawks because PCA seems like he has a little more wild streak in him than what Tays did, and Kane was known to have a little bit of a wild streak. So I'm going more Patrick Kane than I am with a taste. The only thing I'm rooting against, sorry, is you guys winning three World Series.

00:21:15
Speaker 6: Sorry, like the Blackhawks did, I apologize.

00:21:19
Speaker 1: I unfortunately don't know a ton about hockey, although I do have a Wayne Gretzki and Connor Bdard rookie card. Other than that, I don't know very much about hockey. But I mean, Mississippi hockey is just not a thing. There's no high school as teams for it or anything. So but yeah, those are the two hockey cards I have there.

00:21:39
Speaker 4: You go well, Justin.

00:21:40
Speaker 2: This was awesome man, Great to have you on, great getting to know you. Thanks for making your FT debut here. Good luck with the recovery in the rehab and we'll check in with you down the road.

00:21:50
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me, guys. Pleasure to meet y'all.