After heartbreaking injury and complicated surgery, Nick Burdi fighting for job with Pirates
BRADENTON, Fla. — Nick Burdi was nonchalant about being back on the mound Wednesday to throw live batting practice at Pirate City, considering what it took for him to get there.
It wasn’t so much a monumental milestone to the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander as it was a stride toward normality following a devastating injury and a complicated surgery.
“I felt very encouraged by the end of it,” Burdi said. “I was very excited to get back out there and start competing again.”
That Burdi is competing for a high-leverage spot in the Pirates bullpen again is encouraging after the heartbreaking scene when he was injured against Arizona last April 22 at PNC Park.
Immediately after throwing a pitch, Burdi doubled over in pain and clutched his right elbow while sobbing on the mound. Only two years removed from Tommy John surgery, there was concern he had suffered a serious injury.
“My knee-jerk reaction when I watched it, my heart just sunk,” said Todd Tomczyk, the Pirates’ director of sports medicine and performance. “From my perspective, I thought he’d fractured his arm. I thought it was more a Dave Dravecky-type of situation. Thank goodness it wasn’t.”
Where Dravecky fractured his right arm while pitching for the San Francisco Giants in 1989 — it was later discovered to have cancerous tumors and had to be amputated — the 27-year-old Burdi never believed his injury would end his budding career.
“It was just one of those things where I put my head down and went to rehab and figured, put in the work and we’ll see what happens,” Burdi said. “I don’t know if I ever thought it would be career-ending, but I figured I’d have to work to get back to this position.”
Burdi was diagnosed with neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome, and surgery required removal of the first rib, anterior and scalene muscles and decompression of the bradial plexus, a network of nerves. That left him with a seven-day hospital stay, six weeks of bed rest and scars on his right elbow, shoulder and neck.
Seeing Burdi back on the mound — along with right-hander Chad Kuhl, who is returning from Tommy John surgery — was inspiring for manager Derek Shelton.
“To see Burdi be able to stay under control and the ball jump out of his hand,” Shelton said, “any day that we have with those guys specifically and the guys that have had surgery that are healthy days, I think is something that we’re looking forward to building on.”
Burdi admits his foundation is built on frustration, especially after he was starting to pitch in meaningful situations. He was becoming a bit of a cult hero in Pittsburgh, earning a Wild Thing nickname for his resemblance of Ricky Vaughn in the movie “Major League” by wearing black sports glasses and fanning batters in bunches.
After recording 17 strikeouts in 82⁄3 innings last season, Burdi was back to throwing heat in his first live BP. He mixed a 97-98 mph fastball with a sharp slider that touched 90. The best part is Burdi felt no soreness after he finished.
“I looked at it like I’m fighting with everyone else for a job,” he said. “All gas from here on out.”
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Kevin Gorman is a TribLive reporter covering the Pirates. A Baldwin native and Penn State graduate, he joined the Trib in 1999 and has covered high school sports, Pitt football and basketball and was a sports columnist for 10 years. He can be reached at kgorman@triblive.com.
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