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Brock Stewart still remembers walking off the field at Rogers Centre at the end of a tough 2019 season with the Toronto Blue Jays.

“This could be it,” he thought to himself. “This could be the last time I’m on a big league field.”

He’s had a lot of time to think in the three and a half years since that day -- much of that spent without a baseball in his hand. He found himself lost in thought again earlier this week, as he sat silently on a flight from Rochester, N.Y., to the Twin Cities. He reflected on all that had happened in all those months -- the setbacks, the questions, the doubts.

“I got emotional at different times on the plane, so hopefully no one was watching me,” Stewart said.

He couldn’t stop the emotions from getting the better of him because nearly 43 months after he last stepped foot on a big league diamond -- after recovering from two arm surgeries in less than a year -- he was finally heading back.

“There were days where I didn't know if I wanted to keep going through the grind of the whole rehab process,” Stewart said. “But I'm sure glad I did.”

Stewart was the winning pitcher in his return to the Majors on Thursday when he allowed only a single and struck out three in two scoreless innings of relief following Tyler Mahle’s early exit with elbow impingement.

And boy, had three and a half years changed him.

When Stewart was last on the field, he was a 27-year-old failed starter with an average fastball velocity of 91.7 mph and a 9.82 ERA across stints with the Dodgers and Blue Jays. On Thursday, he averaged 95.8 mph and touched 97. He got swings and misses with the fastball, cutter and slider.

At the age of 31, with better stuff than ever, Stewart isn’t here to be an innings-eater in low-leverage situations. He’ll get opportunities to show the Twins what he’s got.

“I wouldn't hesitate to put him in the fire one day, if we have to,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “And I think he could hold his own there, too. So I think he's more of a versatile piece for us, with big stuff.”

After that tough 2019 season and getting released by the Cubs in ‘20, Stewart found his way to Tread Athletics, a pitching development company in North Carolina. There, he worked on his hip-shoulder separation in his delivery and using more of his pec muscle in his delivery -- and he started throwing harder than ever.

The problem: The added age and stress on his arm blew out his elbow. May 2021 brought Tommy John surgery. Ten months later, in March 2022, he needed another elbow surgery after doctors found a bone spur in the back of the elbow. Even so, the Twins signed him to a two-year Minor League deal in July.

He proved the Twins right. His stuff is bigger than ever -- and he showed off with 17 strikeouts and two walks in 8 2/3 innings with Triple-A St. Paul.

Now, he’s all the way back.

“I always hoped and prayed I'd get back to this moment,” Stewart said. “To be here now, it's very special.”