This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CHICAGO -- Keegan Thompson is fully operational. The Cubs reliever has only made two appearances in the season’s early going, but the nature of the outings has lowered the eyebrows that were raised by some of the velocity numbers that popped up during Spring Training.

“He looks like the Keegan we've seen,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “Definitely, the question marks are kind of gone, as far as anybody's concerned.”

On Opening Day, Thompson made a one-inning appearance, touched 95 mph with his fastball and helped the Cubs piece together a tidy 4-0 win over the Brewers. On Monday in Cincinnati, the right-hander worked 3 1/3 shutout innings in a 7-6 loss, but he held the line for Chicago and very much looked like the multi-inning weapon Ross utilized last year. He is sitting in the 92-93 mph range consistently with his heater.

During Spring Training, some red flags rippled when Thompson’s fastball velocity was registering around 90-92 mph. The Cubs reacted with a more conservative build-up program, allowing Thompson to focus on getting his mechanics in order without worrying about a heavy workload.

Thompson said he was never too worried, knowing he was just in prepare mode for the long season ahead. And the preseason results remained strong: seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts and two walks in six Cactus League outings

“The spring, it's just spring,” said Thompson. “We're there working on things and just trying to get back to where you want to be within the season. I don't think there was too much really to put into what was being said in spring. It was just sticking to what I do. Went out there, throwing strikes and believing in my ability.”

There are plenty of springs in which more veteran pitchers arrive with their stuff a tick down on the radar gun. There is often a built-in benefit of the doubt, given their long resumes and track records. With a pitcher like Thompson, who is still relatively young in experience, the Cubs wanted to ensure everything was in order.

“If you've been through enough Spring Trainings, you’ve seen guys come in and build up from the beginning of spring,” Cubs assistant pitching coach Daniel Moskos said. “Velo down, [then] build up, build up, build up. And then on Opening Day, they are who you thought they were.”

That certainly looks to be the case right now for Thompson, who had a 1.47 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 14 walks in 36 2/3 innings (12 appearances) as a reliever in 2022. Ross said he plans on using the righty again as a multi-inning, high-leverage arm, while finding moments to stick to one frame.

The manager is just happy to have Thompson looking more than fine out of the chute.

“We always talk about how we shouldn’t put too much stock in Spring Training stats,” Ross said. “But yet, your eyes tell you what they tell you. So you try to work through that, figure out what's real. Thank goodness we didn’t leave him behind to build up his velocity, because it showed up Day 1.”