DETROIT -- Three hundred and sixty-seven days after undergoing surgery to repair his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament, Tyler Glasnow warmed up in the outfield at Comerica Park, made his way to the visitors' bullpen then flung fastballs and spun breaking balls off the mound for about 15 minutes.

Glasnow is deep into the rehabilitation program after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, throwing regular bullpen sessions and looking forward to facing hitters in batting practice for the first time on Aug. 20. But the question on everyone’s mind, of course, is whether there’s any chance he’ll get back on the mound for the Rays this season.

“The chance is not zero,” pitching coach Kyle Snyder said. “Let's say that much.”

“I'd say not zero,” echoed Glasnow, Tampa Bay’s Opening Day starter last year. “For me, it's hard to even think about now. … Obviously, it's entered my mind, but I can't give it a real answer until I do all that stuff and see how I recover and everything like that. So it's still kind of a ways away.”

This is the first time this year Glasnow has been on the road with the Rays, so he was thrilled to pitch outside on a nearly 90-degree afternoon in Detroit on Saturday. It provided him more opportunities to work with Snyder, throw a pair of bullpen sessions under Snyder’s watch, be around his teammates and break out of the day-to-day rehab grind at Tropicana Field.

So far, everything seems to be going well. He’s throwing 25-30 pitches per bullpen session, using all four of his offerings. Despite being just a year and two days removed from surgery, his fastball is clocking in at 98-99 mph, Snyder said, essentially back to pre-injury form.

“As far as timing goes, I really don't feel like I missed a beat,” Glasnow said. “I feel like I'm like 2021.”

“What we've seen to this point has not surprised any of us. He's fully healthy. He's throwing bullpens like he has in the past,” Snyder added. “It's pretty remarkable just to see where he is almost a year out.”

That’s an exciting idea for the Rays. Last season, Glasnow posted a 2.66 ERA with 123 strikeouts in 88 innings over 14 starts before he partially tore his UCL and suffered a flexor tendon strain in his throwing arm during an outing in Chicago on June 14, cutting short what could have been a Cy Young Award-caliber season.

The timing of Glasnow’s surgery last August made it unclear if he’d be able to return this season. Throughout his rehab, the Rays wouldn’t rule out the possibility of him pitching this year but said it was more likely he’d come back in 2023. When people ask Glasnow that question, he provides a similar answer.

“Yeah, I just say, ‘I don’t know,’” Glasnow said. “I say, like, ‘Yeah, I mean, definitely next year. Maybe this year. Who knows?’ It’s honestly up in the air.”

If he does return, it would presumably be in a shortened-up role -- like when he returned from the injured list in late 2019 -- given how little time is left in the season. He would likely spend a few weeks facing hitters after beginning that process later this month, then he’d need some sort of Minor League rehab stint to get reacclimated to game action and build up his pitch count.

“I can't even start thinking about it until I'm done throwing to hitters a few times. It's great I feel good in bullpens and stuff, but once you get into a game, it's a different story,” Glasnow said. “I don't want to get my hopes up and then be like, 'Oh, I don't feel good.' I don't want to go the other way.”

Glasnow, Snyder and the rest of the organization, mindful of the 28-year-old’s long-term health, aren’t getting too far ahead of themselves. They know they can’t rush through the rehab or skip any important steps just to have him pitch a few innings late in the season.

Even as he acknowledged it’d be “awesome” to pitch this season, that understanding has kept Glasnow’s focus over the last year on the mile markers in his rehab, not the finish line.

“It's not something I'm willing to rush into and make a stupid judgment call because my ego wants to get tickled for a week,” he said. “I've just got to buckle down and take care of what I've got to take care of first.”