Daniel Hudson pitches for the first time in over two years

The last time Daniel Hudson pitched in a major league game was June 26, 2012. Since then he had a Tommy John surgery, started to rehab, got injured again and had a second Tommy John surgery. He may have felt like he’d never get through it all, but there he was last night, coming on in relief for the Dbacks and tossing a scoreless inning.

Afterwards, Hudson was understandably emotional:

“I couldn’t really sit down. It was a lot of different emotions. I wish I could explain them all but I can’t . . . Even if I go out tomorrow and it blows again, it was all worth it. It was a long time coming. Thankfully today came.”

He then took to Twitter last night:

RIP my mentions. So many emotions. So much fun. Thank you guys for sticking with me the last two plus years. I’m tearing up typing this

— Daniel Hudson (@DHuddy41) September 4, 2014

Hudson is the fourth pitcher to undergo Tommy John surgery in consecutive years and return to the majors.

Worth remembering, too, that he’s still only 27-years-old. In 2011 he won 16 games for the Dbacks. Between 2009 and 2011 he went 25-11 with a 3.19 ERA -- which worked out to an ERA+ of 128 -- for Arizona and for the Chicago White Sox. Here’s hoping he gets a normal offseason this winter and can come back and resume what started out as such a promising career.