LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Jonny Venters has savored the chance to be back at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports complex, the venue where he has likely logged more hours than any other Braves player over the past two decades.

“I called my wife the first day I pulled in this place and said, ‘It’s awesome,’" Venters said. “It feels weird coming back here. It’s my first Spring Training in seven years where I’ve been healthy and have a good opportunity to compete. I feel like I’m home. I spent so much time in this clubhouse and at this facility. It just feels right.”

On his way to earning last year’s National League Comeback Player of the Year Award, Venters celebrated his return to the Majors after three Tommy John ligament replacement surgeries and one reattachment surgery, and he enjoyed the homecoming that came about when the Rays traded him to the Braves in late July. Much of that return journey took place at the Braves’ Spring Training complex, where the left-hander is now experiencing his first healthy big league camp since 2012.

“It hasn’t changed at all,” Venters said of the Champion Stadium training room, which he first regularly visited after undergoing Tommy John surgery near the end of his 2005 season with Class A Rome.

Given all he has endured, it’s unrealistic to expect Venters to ever again be as dominant as he was from 2010-12, when a rare elongated stretch of good health enabled him to establish himself as one of baseball’s top relievers. But he still showed flashes of his former brilliance as he produced a 3.67 ERA and limited opponents to a .208 batting average over 50 appearances for the Rays and Braves last year.

“He looks great right now,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I watched a side session the other day. Just getting through last year and having a normal offseason is going to help. You’d be hard pressed to find anybody on this club teammates would pull for any harder than him.”

When Venters arrived at Spring Training this year, he was glad to see some of the same parking lot attendants, security guards, grounds-crew members and clubhouse employees who first met him when he was a member of the 2004 Gulf Coast League Braves. The lefty also spent all of 2006 rehabbing at the facility and returned near the end of '07, when he began another lengthy stay that extended through most of the '08 season.

Spring Training visits were the only ones Venters made to the facility from 2009-12. His return before the start of the 2013 season was marred by discomfort that led to him undergoing his second Tommy John surgery a few months later. A third procedure was required in 2014. He spent the past four years with the Rays wondering if he’d ever pitch again and doubting he’d have this chance to be back where his career began.

“I spent 10 years with this organization,” Venters said. “I spent a lot of time in this room and at this complex. I can’t tell you how much it means to me to be here and put this jersey on every day. It’s like a dream.”

While attending Terry Pendleton’s Braves Hall of Fame induction ceremony in January, Venters saw his wife begin to tear up as Brian McCann spoke glowingly about how Venters had overcome so much adversity and still looked like the dominant reliever who was in Atlanta’s bullpen at the start of this decade.

“He got a standing ovation when he stepped into the clubhouse when we got him [last year],” Snitker said. “That speaks volumes to the person, player and teammate Jonny Venters is. I don’t think there is a man who was ever on a team with him who doesn’t feel that same way about him.”