PITTSBURGH -- For the final act of his rookie season, Cubs lefty Justin Steele clapped his pitching hand into his glove as he walked off the mound, applauding the work of his defense.

Steele had just induced a double play to end the seventh inning on Thursday night, ending what amounted to the best start of his young career. In a 9-0 win over the Pirates at PNC Park, it was Steele's city.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he's the guy that comes into Spring Training and wows a lot of us next year,” Cubs manager David Ross said earlier in the day.

If Steele's last outing of 2021 was a glimpse into his future, that would be great news for a Chicago club that will be constructing a new rotation in the coming months.

As things stand, the Cubs have veteran rotation leader Kyle Hendricks locked in for the 2022 starting staff. Righty Alec Mills will also head into the offseason as a favorite for a job. Beyond that, Chicago is evaluating its internal and external options.

In-house, the young trio of Adbert Alzolay, Keegan Thompson and Steele will give the Cubs plenty to consider as the club weighs alternatives with free agency or via trade. All three have shown flashes of dominance this year, but each has endured the natural ups and downs of a first full MLB tour.

Rotation? Bullpen? Steele just wants the ball.

"I want to help this team win ballgames. That's where I'm at," Steele said. "That's my mentality. My eyes are on the World Series. I want to win a championship. If it's in the bullpen, if it's in the starting rotation, I'm going to leave that up to the Cubs.

"They're going to use me the best way they see fit. I'm going to go out there and try to get outs. I'm here to compete."

Steele's second-half rotation audition ended with a career-high seven innings and a personal-best seven strikeouts. He limited Pittsburgh to four hits and paid no mind to the one harmless walk he issued. And Chicago’s offense gifted him with ample cushion -- seven runs arriving in the first two innings.

“It’s nice to be able to pitch freely when you've got that kind of run support,” Ross said. “He did a really nice job tonight.”

Steele leaned mostly on his fastballs, leading with the four-seamer (31 pitches) and countering it with his sinker (18). The lefty used his curveball more than his slider, but he utilized his whole arsenal to balance whiffs (eight) with groundouts (11).

"He attacked the zone," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "He went right at us. He has a sneaky fastball. That's the thing. It shows up at 92 or 93 [mph], but it plays higher than that. We had multiple fastballs get on us. We didn't take very good swings off him."

It was the kind of performance that Steele can carry with him into the offseason, moving beyond the ups and downs of his previous eight turns (5.89 ERA).

Steele broke into the Majors on April 12 as a reliever, logging a 2.03 ERA with 21 strikeouts in 13 1/3 innings in 11 appearances. The Cubs needed bullpen help at the time, but that initial taste of the Majors also helped the team manage the lefty's innings.

It also showed Steele something.

"It gave me some confidence," he said. "Coming up in the bullpen, it kind of showed me that I belonged here. And it gave me confidence going into the starting rotation."

Steele's transition to starting through July and August at Triple-A Iowa included a 0.87 ERA in 20 2/3 innings. Armed with his early big league experience, Steele blew hitters away and returned to the Cubs' staff on Aug. 10.

From there, Steele found out that success in short relief bursts, or overpowering outings in the Minors, are not the same as turning lineups over as a Major League starter. He labored with efficiency, allowed opponents an OPS of .889 and talked about lessons learned.

Steele applied those lessons in Pittsburgh.

"In these discussions, I've always talked about how I need to start executing pitches more," he said. "I feel like I really executed my pitches tonight. It was really good to end the season on a night like that."

The Cubs can only hope for more nights like it in 2022.

"It's been a really good year. It's been really fun," Steele said. "A lot to build off of. A lot to work on in the offseason. And that's exactly what I'm going to do."