CHICAGO -- The mention of Justin Steele's outing against the Dodgers last season still brings a smile to the pitcher's face. As a rookie, he worked the ninth inning, finished with a strikeout and came off the mound screaming and flexing and slapping his glove.

"It proved a lot to myself," Steele said at his locker on Friday morning at Wrigley Field. "It was just kind of like, 'I'm here.' I've proven to myself that I can get these guys out, and I'm supposed to be here."

It was a heavy dose of confidence that arrived in a relief role for Steele, who has since grown into one of the Cubs' most reliable rotation pieces. Chicago also introduced Keegan Thompson -- the starter in Friday's 8-7 win over the Brewers -- to the big leagues via the bullpen.

The Cubs took that approach with Steele and Thompson partly out of necessity. Given the construction of the roster, combined with the pitchers' past injury history and the lost developmental innings during the pandemic, it was a path that made a lot of sense.

In fact, both Steele and Thompson support the concept of breaking some starting pitching prospects in as Major League relievers first.

"Yeah, I think it definitely would help guys, just to get that experience," Thompson said. "If it's out of the 'pen, you're going to come in and show what you have. I think it's definitely a nice little taste of the big leagues."

"Any guy that they want to do that with," Steele said, "I almost kind of want to recommend it, just because it worked so well for me."

MLB Pipeline’s updated Cubs’ Top 30 prospects list features 15 pitchers, including seven in the top half and four in the top 10.

Right-hander Caleb Kilian (No. 14) tasted the Majors this season, while newly added Hayden Wesneski (No. 12) is not far behind. Recent first-round Draft picks Cade Horton (No. 4) and Jordan Wicks (No. 5) could be quick climbers.

Now, introducing a rotation arm to the big leagues as a multi-inning relief weapon is not going to work for every young pitcher. But considering how it helped Steele and Thompson find their footing, grow their confidence and earn their way into starting roles, it is something Chicago will be keeping in mind.

"That's certainly a conversation that we've had and it will be ongoing," said Craig Breslow, an assistant general manager and vice president of pitching for the Cubs. "There's that blueprint, right?"

Breslow said one step the Cubs have taken this year and will continue down the road is to first have select starting pitchers work relief roles in the Minors. That could include having them make a start and then piggyback with another pitcher in a subsequent game.

"We have kind of adopted some of those approaches in the Minor Leagues," Breslow said. "And I do think that's worked out successfully. We've talked about that being a great way to break guys in, so long as we have the chance to expose them to it."

Last season, Steele turned in a 2.03 ERA in 11 relief appearances across April and May before a hamstring injury halted his season. The lefty eventually built up as a starter at Triple-A Iowa and returned to the Cubs down the stretch as a part of the rotation. This year, he has a 3.43 ERA in 22 starts and has already logged more innings (107 2/3) than in any professional campaign.

Thompson spent most of his rookie year in 2021 as a reliever but made six starts before the year was over. This season, the righty had a 1.38 ERA in eight relief outings (26 innings) before transitioning to starting full-time in late May. Thompson has a 3.97 ERA overall and now has his most innings (104 1/3) at any level since 2018.

In Friday's win, a strong day for the Cubs' offense overcame a short outing from Thompson. He allowed five runs -- all via three homers -- in 3 2/3 innings.

"I think he's got some fatigue probably setting in," Cubs manager David Ross said. "We'll take a big-picture look at that and make sure everything's on the up and up with him health-wise."

The mixed roles helped the Cubs position Steele and Thompson for heavier workloads this season. In the process, the pitchers said their time in the bullpen gave them experience handling high-leverage moments, plus time behind the scenes to keep honing secondary pitches in their arsenals.

"For me," Steele said, "I think if I would have come straight out and been thrown into the rotation, it might've been like a sink-or-swim situation. I would've had to face adversity and start learning very early, rather than coming to the big leagues [in] the bullpen and building that confidence right away."