TAMPA — It’s an exclusive club, and not one Nick Vardy particularly wanted to be a part of.
Nearly 50 pitchers have had two Tommy John surgeries.
More than 50 people have also undergone surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome.
However, Vardy and Shaun Hill are the only two known pitchers to return to pitching in the majors after undergoing two Tommy John surgeries and thoracic outlet surgery.
“It’s been very tough,” said Hill, who pitched for the Expos, Nationals, Padres and Blue Jays and is now in his ninth year as a pro scout for the Yankees.
After his third surgery, Hill returned to the major leagues for one game in 2012.
Bourdy came back from a terrible three-game winning streak against the Cubs last year, but had an emergency appendectomy that ruined the fun moments.
But now he has another chance to come back, waking up the Yankees early in spring training as a non-roster invitee competing for a spot in the bullpen.
“This is one of the things I feel I can still do,” Bourdi said Sunday. “I feel like at some point the tide is going to turn and my health will come back. To be in this locker room, some of the players I played with last year are like, “We have the jersey, we have a chance.” There is a word. For me, if someone gives me an opportunity, I want to make the most of it and not miss it. ”
The 31-year-old right-hander arrived at camp with a hole in his lower arm, which he first started toying with late last year before getting serious in the offseason.
This relieved some of the stress on his frequently surgically repaired arm without losing the sharpness or shape of his pitches. In fact, he said it made everything better as well.
Burdi took live batting practice Saturday, hitting a mid-to-high 90s fastball as well as a sweeper slider and changeup from the lower slot.
“It was real,” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “That was impressive.”
“It’s like a four-seam for lowriding.” [fastball] There were no arm-side runs,” said Ben Rohrtvedt, who spent time with Burdi in the Twins organization and played against him in Saturday’s live session. “The off-speed is solid and sharp. …The stuff is really good.”
Burdi’s talent was never in doubt.
The Twins selected the former flamethrower Louisville closer in the second round of the 2014 draft.
He was considered a quick-to-progress arm in the minor leagues, but injuries slowed his development.
His first Tommy John surgery was performed in May 2017.
Later that year, he joined the Pirates in the Rule 5 Draft and continued his rehabilitation with them until making his MLB debut in September 2018.
“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met,” said Clay Holmes, who overlapped with Vardy in Pittsburgh.
Vardy was named to the Pirates’ opening day roster in 2019, but suffered a tear in his right bicep during a game on April 22nd, crouching on the ground in pain and tears, and eventually suffered from thoracic outlet syndrome in June of the same year. I decided to undergo surgery for TOS.
He also had another surgery in September to address a forearm issue.
After appearing in three games in 2020, Bourdi underwent a second Tommy John surgery in October of the same year and an ulnar nerve graft in 2022.
“That was the hardest part because it was the first time I had so many setbacks,” Bourdi said. “I had a hematoma and an infection there. It hurt every time I threw it. In the summer of 2022, it was [was] “Maybe you should start looking for a job or see if there’s anything else that might interest you, because you never know if that’s going to happen.”
“But I remember my wife saying, ‘Just keep going.’ And we did that, and here we are.”
Hill also said he has a stubborn spirit that has kept him coming back from all the surgeries.
He went through a lot of chases (including his second Tommy John) before being diagnosed with TOS.
All the surgeries took a toll on him over time, but he returned to the majors later that year for his final game with the Blue Jays.
“I remember my trainer when I showed up there again…and he was just shaking his head, like, ‘I still don’t know how to run,'” Hill said. . “I was like, ‘I don’t know anything else.’ This is what I’m going to do.’ It was flattering, but it was also frustrating because, sure, I’m back, but at the same time , I also knew that I was a shadow of who I could have been and who I actually was.”
Burdi wants to write a different ending to his story.
He wants to pitch for six to eight more years and thinks the Yankees, with their history of developing bullpen arms out of thin air, are a good place to take the next step.
“Becoming a father in particular is one of the things I want to do in the future.” [my daughter and son] It showed me that I didn’t give up,” Bourdi said. “I kept going, pushing myself. So if they have a dream one day, they’ll go after it and have the passion to make it come true.”
