Sean Burnett seeks Phillies bullpen job

KISSIMMEE, Fla. - Sean Burnett returned to his hotel room and stacked a pile of pillows against the bed's headboard after another day of rehabbing an elbow injury under the Arizona sun.

His doctor - the renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews - told Burnett that it was just a matter of time until the ligament that holds together the pitcher's left elbow would pop. Burnett knew Andrews was right. Elbow problems hindered him the previous season, and discomfort filled those workouts in the spring of 2014.

So Burnett clutched a set of baseballs and fired them against the stack of pillows, hoping with each throw that his ligament would snap. Andrews had performed Tommy John surgery on Burnett 10 years earlier. The pitcher accepted that he would need it again. And he was ready to induce it.

"I tried to speed up the process," said Burnett, who helped his case for a role in the Phillies bullpen by tossing two scoreless innings Wednesday in a 3-2 loss to Atlanta.

Burnett's ulnar collateral ligament proved too stubborn to snap in that Tempe, Ariz., hotel room. It lasted two more months before finally popping on the mound in May as Burnett pitched for the Angels in Seattle. Burnett had finished his rehab, worked through the minor leagues, and reached the majors, knowing the whole way that he would need a second surgery from Andrews.

"It was kind of like a ticking time bomb that went off in Seattle," Burnett said.

Burnett had surgery a month later and missed the entire 2015 season. He spent most of last year in the minors with Washington before reaching the majors in September, pitching for the Nationals in the midst of a pennant race.

A database compiled by baseball researcher Jon Roegele said that 193 pitchers in MLB last season - more than a quarter of all MLB pitchers - had undergone Tommy John surgery , which replaces a ligament in the medial elbow with a tendon from elsewhere in the body. The Phillies used seven pitchers last season who had undergone the surgery. Burnett is one of 77 players in history who have had Tommy John surgery twice.

"Now I feel completely healthy, and with a full year under my belt there are no question marks," Burnett said. "I feel great this spring training and feel like I can literally let the ball go now. Going into last year, I had a bunch of question marks myself."

Burnett saw an opportunity with the Phillies, who have just two lefthanded relievers on their 40-man roster. Wednesday was his third straight scoreless appearance. The race for the lefthander role in the bullpen narrows to Burnett, Adam Morgan, Cesar Ramos, and Joely Rodriguez. Morgan and Rodriguez are already on the 40-man roster. The bullpen may include two lefthanders.

"He's always been a strike thrower," said manager Pete Mackanin, who was Burnett's first minor-league manager after Pittsburgh drafted him in the first round in 2000. "If he throws strikes with all of his pitches, he can be very effective out of the bullpen. That's wide open. There's definitely a need."

Andrews told Burnett that the second surgery could extend his career another four or five years. He is 34, a lifetime removed from the 18-year-old kid Mackanin helped introduce to professional baseball. If Burnett needs any reminders of the grueling path he traveled, he just needs to glance to his right in the Phillies clubhouse. The batter from that day his elbow failed in Seattle - Michael Saunders - sits a few stalls away.

"It was a little weird to face him in live [batting practice] this year," Burnett said. "I had all of those bad memories. I had some choice words for him when he stepped in the batter's box. We had a good time with it."

mbreen@phillynews.com

@matt_breen philly.com/philliesblog