PHOENIX -- Brewers right-hander Jimmy Nelson passed another mound test on Monday when he threw to hitters for the first time this spring, marking another step forward as he mounts a comeback from right shoulder surgery after missing last season.

A day later, Nelson said he was eager to take the next step, which will be pitching in an intrasquad game. That could happen as soon as Thursday.

“I feel like I’m game-ready right now, but we’re all on the same page with this plan,” Nelson said. “It’s a very smart plan. It’s hard for us as athletes -- especially coming back from something like this -- to look at the bigger picture because we know we’ve been through so much and we want this gratification now. But they do a good job of zooming out the camera, so to speak, and seeing the bigger picture and knowing what’s best for us.

“As bad as I wanted to be in a game a week or two ago, I understand and respect the plan to ease into it. They’ve found middle ground with me because I was supposed to be in another live BP Thursday, but I think I convinced them to let me be in an intrasquad. So that’ll be a nice little change.”

For Monday’s batting practice, Nelson warmed up in the bullpen before throwing approximately 20 pitches and going three up, three down against Brewers Minor Leaguers Cooper Hummel (flyout), Dillon Thomas (strikeout) and Mario Feliciano (groundout).

“Everything went as expected,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It went just how you’d want it to go. Nothing happened.”

Counsell said he didn’t check Nelson’s velocity readings because he was more concerned about the pitcher making a healthy step forward. The session against hitters was delayed a week or so after Nelson developed some forearm discomfort during a bullpen session

Nelson heard his fastball was sitting in the 90- to 92-mph range. He expects those readings to rise as he builds stamina and feeds off the adrenaline of his increasingly competitive progression, from bullpen sessions to BP to an intrasquad game with umpires to a Major League Spring Training game.

He remains pleased with his offspeed stuff. During his rehab from shoulder surgery, Nelson worked to tighten his delivery, and said he’s experienced better feel for breaking balls and changeups as a result. He struck out Thomas on a curveball.

“The pitchability, the movement, all that stuff was there,” Nelson said. “The fastball command was off a tick but really, the misses weren’t that bad. They weren’t big misses. That’s one thing I feel like I’ve been able to tighten up working through some mechanical stuff throughout this process. My misses are smaller and I’m able to make adjustments quicker. ... I feel like I have three quality offspeed pitches as opposed to 2 1/2 with the changeup being average. It’s come a long way and it’s kind of caught up with the other offspeed pitches.”

Of Monday’s session, Counsell said, “It’s a good day for him, because it feels like progress, and you can move on to the next one.”

Looking ahead, if Nelson clears his intrasquad outing without issue, he could be ready for a Cactus League game. The timing of that depends on how many days off the Brewers would schedule before he takes the mound again.

“I don’t really care who it’s against. I mean, it can be against the Bad News Bears,” Nelson said. “I don’t care. I want to get back out there in that environment, and be with these guys out there.”