MESA, Ariz. — Cubs manager Craig Counsell announced Justin Steele as the team’s Opening Day starter on Saturday.

It’s a move that comes as no surprise as the 28-year-old left-hander has been one of the best starting pitchers in the National League over the last 2 seasons.

“I always take it as — it’s a reflection of what a player has done throughout his career and where he’s built himself to,” Counsell said. “Justin’s got himself to a great place and it’s something you earn. I think it’s important for the player and that’s why it’s such a good feeling.

“It’s more than the day it is to me it’s, it speaks to what the players that earned it accomplished.”

Steele made his first All-Star team last summer and finished 5th in NL Cy Young voting.

Since the start of 2022, Steele is 20-12 with a 3.11 ERA, 1.25 WHIP and 302 strikeouts in 292.1 innings.

Last year, he set career marks in wins, ERA, WHIP starts, innings and strikeouts while posting a 4.9 WAR by FanGraphs’ metric. He finished behind San Diego’s Blake Snell, San Francisco’s Logan Webb, Arizona’s Zac Gallen and Atlanta’s Spencer Strider in Cy Young voting.

Steele has been a major success story for the organization as a homegrown pitcher who has come up through the system and made a big impact in Chicago.

“It’s awesome. Obviously just a great accomplishment,” Steele said Saturday. “It really makes me just think back on the road that it took to get here. Seven years in the minor leagues not a traditional path; coming out of high school, young age and stuff. It just kind of made me reminisce a little bit. Appreciate the long road that it took for me to get here and it’s obviously just a lot of emotions. It feels great. It’s quite the honor.

“I’m looking forward to the day and let’s make it a special season.”

Counsell has seen Steele from afar while at the helm of the Milwaukee Brewers over the last few seasons.

“He throws a baseball in a way and it just does a little something different each time and that is hard for hitters,” Counsell said. “Hitters don’t like what they don’t see very often and they’re used to calibrating to a movement on a pitch. Then when it moves differently the next time and they’re never really sure what to expect, that’s what makes it hard for them to square the baseball up on him.

“It’s unique. I think that’s what makes you say, ‘why can’t we hit him?’ Because it’s unique. But it’s certainly what he’s good at.”

The Cubs open the 2024 season against the defending champion Texas Rangers on March 28.