Nick Burdi's nerve issues began in 2016. He just didn't know it then. Neither did the doctor.
In 2016, Burdi was limited to just three innings pitched due to a right arm injury. At the time, the Twins medical staff diagnosed him with a bone bruise. Burdi would undergo Tommy John surgery in 2017 and miss most of 2018 before making the Pirates opening day bullpen in 2019. Through the rehab and his journey to the majors, the nerve injury in his right arm was misdiagnosed.
Which explains what happened Apr. 22, when he fell to ground in pain on the pitcher's mound after throwing a fastball to the Diamondbacks' Jarrod Dyson. It would be the final pitch he threw that season.
As Burdi writhed in pain at the center of PNC Park, he said it felt like the area between his bicep and forearm had snapped.
"I just had a deep, throbbing pain," Burdi said during PiratesFest Saturday.
Two days later, he had no feeling in the pinky or ring fingers, which pointed to him suffering from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Burdi tried to rehab back, but eventually went under the knife.
“Every time I went to throw, I could feel a sharp and shooting pain down my arm,” Burdi said.
During the procedure, Burdi lost two scaling muscles and a first rib, he kept the latter as a souvenir, and they did a minor pec release. Six or seven days after the surgery, all his symptoms had vanished.
He is now pitching pain-free. On Friday he threw a 30-pitch bullpen session, and he felt far better than he would have a year ago.
“I’d say the last 15 pitches, I was really starting to let it go,” Burdi said. “Usually after that, it feels like I just threw 200 pitches. That’s the feeling I would get in my elbow and bicep area. I don’t have that anymore. That’s the biggest thing, going back-to-back games or two out of three days, three out of four, I feel more confident about being able to do it over and over and be more consistent with it.”
There have not been many success stories from pitchers who undergo TOS surgery, but Burdi is a unique case. For example, Matt Harvey had a vascular issue which lead to his TOS. Burdi's was neurogenic, and both he and the doctors saw an improvement pretty quickly.
Burdi is making some mechanics changes ahead of 2020, not just because of the surgery, but to get more out of his body while pitching. He has been studying people like Gerrit Cole and Marcus Stroman and trying to mimmick how they use the lower-half of their bodies.
"I think people will see [the changes] come spring training," he said. "...I've come to realize I wasn't maximizing my potential on the mound, and I was throwing at a high velocity, but not doing it in the right bio-mechanic way."
Burdi pitched 8.2 innings in 2019 and struck out 17. It was a good taste of what he could do in the majors, and his goal for 2020 is to pitch a full season.
"It’s one of those things that just, at this point, kind of needs to get done, he said. "A full season needs to get under my belt.”
Burdi is one of three Pirates pitchers who have rehabbed major arm injuries this offseason who were available at PiratesFest. Chad Kuhl is almost back from his 2018 Tommy John surgery, and Jameson Taillon will miss the 2020 season after his Tommy John surgery in August.
It was the second time Taillon had the procedure, with his first coming in April 2014.
"If I compare it to last time, this time has been a better experience,” Taillon said of his recovery. “Obviously, that has to stay the same for the next while, then when I start throwing off the mound, so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. But I feel really, really good.”
Last week he hit a big milestone in his rehab, throwing from 60 feet. Now the plan is to increase it 15 feet every other week.
While there are not many pitchers who have come back from two Tommy John surgeries and started again, Taillon is shooting to beat the odds.
“I’ve just been a starter my whole life, so I don’t really know anything different,” he said. “I’d be more than willing to learn how to throw out of the ‘pen if that’s best for long-term health or best for the team at that point, but I personally, selfishly, would like to prove to myself that I can come back as a starter.”
Kuhl is also hoping to come back a starter too. He has thrown a couple fastball/changeup bullpen sessions over the past week, and will transition to using all of his pitches in his bullpens this week.
He expects to start facing live batters just as spring training begins.
“Everything’s feeling good and seems to be on track,” he said.
While Derek Shelton has not announced his starting rotation or any spring training positional battles yet, Kuhl is likely going to compete with Steven Brault for the fifth starter job. He has prepared this offseason as if he is coming back a starter.
Even if he has to settle for a bullpen role, Kuhl is excited to pitch and live pain-free again.
“I couldn’t really straighten my arm and flex it or do anything like that without pain before surgery,” Kuhl said. “Definitely a world of difference to know that I’m healed and everything is working the way it should.”