Toronto Blue Jays’ pitching prospect Roberto Osuna threw his first side session today since undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2013. Photo Credit: MLB Prospect Portal

One of the Toronto Blue Jays top prospects, pitcher Roberto Osuna, appears to be getting closer to his return to game action.

Today, for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, Osuna threw off the mound in a bullpen side session. The 19-year old right-hander recapped what sounded like promising progress on Twitter.

Threw my first side today, everything felt good. Off to a great start and continuing to get better each and every day. — Roberto Osuna (@RobertoOsuna1) March 24, 2014

He threw off flat ground for the first time on March 3rd and tweeted that he felt “great”, “new” and “everything is doing excellent.”

Five starts into last season, Osuna began to feel discomfort in his right throwing elbow. He was diagnosed with an UCL tear but it wasn’t clear at first if Osuna would require surgery. After resting for a month, he returned to the hill in June but by the start of July it was clear he wasn’t himself and ended up going under the knife later that month.

The recovery time for Tommy John surgery has been greatly reduced in recent years with a recover time now down to 9-12 months according to Sports Illustrated.

Osuna sounds like he is right on track and might even be a bit ahead of schedule since it’s only been about eight months since his surgery and, at least by his own account, is already throwing pain-free.

This is great news for fans of the Toronto Blue Jays since it looks like Osuna should be ready to build on the 43 or so innings he’s thrown the past two seasons if he’s able to return by June or so to a full bill of health. I’m sure the Blue Jays will be cautious with him out of the gate so it will likely be a slow build back up for Osuna.

Will he be the same explosive pitcher when he returns to the mound? Only time will tell but if the recent history of Tommy John surgery is any indication, there’s a good chance that he’s back and 100% ready to go by the beginning of July (or maybe even earlier).