Tyler Thornburg has been pitching for the Milwaukee Brewers since 2012, but last year was to be his first as a full-time reliever.

He started well, but was then lost for the year with an elbow injury. the 26-year-old is back and healthy at the start of 2015 and hopes to prove, again, that he belongs in the majors.

OnMilwaukee.com caught up with right-hander at the start of the season.

OnMilwaukee.com: You pitched in 27 games last year before being shut down, and the team when it a vastly different direction after that. Does right now feel like a continuation of last year, or that it almost didn’t happen at all?

Tyler Thornburg: A little bit. I feel like anytime something like that happens you have to kind of like, re-prove yourself. I think anytime someone’s coming back from an injury for an extended period of time, whether it’s surgery or guys that maybe didn’t play the last few months, sometimes you have a to prove to yourself that you’re, number one, healthy, and two that you’re still productive.

As far as what role I’ll be in at the beginning, its one of those things where I have to prove myself again, prove that I was the same guy that I was in April (14 games, 0.61 ERA) when healthy, and go from there.

(As of April 22, Thornburg has struck out 8 and walked 3, compiling a 5.59 ERA in 9.2 innings across 6 starts this season.)

OMC: Since you had success in this relief role, does it put you in a good mental state? Or is it different because you’re also thinking about your arm feeling a certain way?

TT: I think it’s just one more thing that I have to concentrate on. When you’re feeling 100 percent and you’re not worried about your body at all, then you’re just concentrating on one thing and that’s being productive, having a good outing, whatever it may be.

So, right now, leading up to the game, I’m just trying to do everything to get my body healthy and make sure I’m healthy when I go out there and pitch. It’s a long season, so to continue to stay healthy.

And then, once the phone rings and your name’s called, then it becomes time to have a good outing. It’s just a little bit more that I have to concentrate on and worry about.

OMC: What was the ramp-up like for you this spring to get yourself to a point where you were like, yeah, I’m healthy and I can do this again?

TT: I tried to approach it day-to-day, because when you’re coming back from the rehab process, not all days – there’s not going to be a moment where you’re just like, yup, I’m good. Sometimes that might happen with some people.

But for me, it was like, day-to-day. Or, I’d be sore one day and feel great the next day, and it wouldn’t have any real correlation to after I threw, the day before I threw, or any of that stuff.

I just tried to look at it as each outing, or each week, is it better than last week? So, I just kind of kept going day-to-day, did everything I could possible. And then it just kind of kept improving from outing to outing.

OMC: Did you allow yourself to take in last year’s game and look back at how you did? You couldn’t have asked for a better start.

TT: I think, as far as last year, it gives me an extreme amount of confidence knowing that I can be a dominant pitcher in the big leagues.

And, going from there, I’m just trying to remember all the things I was doing in April. And, now it’s just proving that I’m the guy that I was in April, and not May. So, yeah, now it’s pretty much get 100 percent healthy and make sure I’m bouncing back strong and stay healthy for the entire year.