“You think I made it to the big leagues as a 35th round, senior sign, and Tommy John surgery is going to stop me? You’re crazy. Give me an opportunity and I’ll show what I have, just as I have before.”

This is a tweet from former New York Mets right-hander, Chasen Bradford, who has been throwing six times a week this winter, waiting for his next opportunity in the majors.

Bradford, 31, was born in Las Vegas, Nevada and went to college at the University of Central Florida, where he was selected out of by the Mets in the 2011 MLB draft.

Six years later, Bradford ascended to MLB’s highest level and pitched in 28 games out of New York’s bullpen. That season, he appeared in 28 games and logged a 3.74 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 4.30 xFIP and fanned 27 batters.

“Being a senior sign and 35th rounder, there was definitely adversity,” Bradford told MetsMerized. “I spent the first seven years of my career working two or three offseason jobs while training to be the best player I could be, but that adversity also reinforced the idea that hard work will get you places.

“When you really aren’t expected to make it anywhere in the game and you end up being relatively good in the big leagues, then it makes you want to continue to work. All I did to stand out was go out there and put up the numbers I know I was capable of.”

However, that offseason, the Mets designated Bradford for assignment and he was picked up by the Seattle Mariners a day later, in what acted as a sort of homecoming for a West Coast born guy.

Bradford would appear in 58 games over two seasons for Seattle before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Despite this, he re-upped with Seattle for the 2020 season, though he did not appear in a game as he worked his way back from the procedure.

Now, just a week or so before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, Bradford is waiting for his next taste of the big leagues, and he has taken to Twitter to showcase his talents, hoping to get a bite from a team.

Attempting to rehab from Tommy John surgery is difficult enough. Throw a pandemic in there, and losing two family members, and it makes it even more difficult.

It was not a very fun journey,” Bradford told MetsMerized. “It was easier when I knew I was going to be rehabbing in Arizona at the Mariners complex. Then COVID hit and it went from getting attention and rehab everyday for two hours, to getting rehab for 20 minutes every three days. Basically rehabbing on my own for the most part.

“Where it all got really hard is when my nephew past away and then my mom followed two months later after a battle with breast cancer. The only positive I can find from that is, I got to be with her for the last eight months of her life. Rehab took a hit then as well, so that set me back a little bit, but I’ve been continuing to progress and I feel better than I did before surgery.”

⁦@MLB⁩ ⁦@PitchingNinja⁩ pic.twitter.com/bqmW00YHDN

— Chasen Bradford (@CBbaseball46) February 8, 2021

During Bradford’s last full season in 2018, the right-hander excelled in limiting base on balls, as he ranked in the 82nd percentile by Baseball Savant. He also had good spin on his fastball, with it ranking in the 58th percentile by the site.

Bradford acknowledged with the game putting more emphasis on spin rate and advanced metrics, he has tried to hone in more on some of those finer details.

“Spin rate has become the name of the game now, and I have had to adjust,” Bradford said. “I’ve always had relatively good spin on my slider but figuring out how to design pitches on the Rapsodo to meet specific profiles teams want is something I am working on now.”

Free agency can be a cold place for players, where even established veterans are without contracts with Spring Training right within striking distance.

For someone like Bradford, it has certainly presented its challenges.

“Being a free agent in this market coming off an injury, it’s horrible,” Bradford said. “Teams do not seem to want to take that chance on a guy who had Tommy John surgery, even though I am feeling good and the ball is coming out well. I’m not going to strike guys out, but I get groundballs and I know my game, but teams haven’t seen me do that in a year and a half so it’s hard.”

But Bradford is a fighter. His Twitter biography has the following quote, “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”

So even despite the current climate of the game, the pandemic, undergoing a major elbow surgery and losing his mother, Bradford has persevered.

“My mom was my world and No. 1 fan,” Bradford said. “She taught me how to treat people and to work hard to get what you want. To stand tall when things don’t seem to be going your way and continue to work.”

Check out some more of Bradford’s videos of him throwing on his Twitter: @CBBaseball46.