Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — Even in an extended spring training game against rookies, Braves reliever Mike Gonzalez wore his typically fierce demeanor.

Back on Field 3 at the Braves Disney complex Tuesday, Gonzalez revved into his motion by rocking back and forth over the rubber. He cocked his left forearm, elbow out, like he was about to fire something. Gonzalez doesn't so much as release a pitch as erupt.

Bill Setliff/AJC Special (ENLARGE)

Reliever Mike Gonzalez, a year removed from elbow reconstruction surgery, is scheduled to pitch his last extended spring training game May 14 and may then join the Braves.

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Less than a year removed from elbow reconstruction surgery, the one-time closer for Pittsburgh is gearing up to return to the Braves bullpen with as much fervor as ever.

Plans for him to return after the All-Star break got scrapped. It's since been bumped up to June, then May and now mid-May.

Gonzalez is scheduled to pitch his last extended spring training game May 14 and either go on a short minor league assignment or directly to Atlanta, he said.

His timing is critical for a bullpen that has likely lost Peter Moylan for the season to elbow surgery, has Rafael Soriano on the disabled list with elbow problems and John Smoltz resorting to a return to relief.

"I've been salivating to get back out there since they left (spring training)," said Gonzalez, who's been buoyed by phone calls from Smoltz. "My intentions are to go in there and have an immediate impact. I'm not planning to go out there and try to figure things out. My things to figure out are right now."

Gonzalez was told by pitchers who'd had the surgery his curveball might not feel comfortable for months or even years. But he said his grip felt fine as soon as he started throwing off a mound last winter. He's had no scar tissue break up like some do. If he's had setbacks from soreness, it's been for a day or so, Gonzalez said, not weeks.

If there's been a struggle, it's to hold himself back.

"He's just like a racehorse that wants to run as soon as the gate opens," said his father Mike Gonzalez Sr. "You can't run before the gate opens."

Gonzalez ate dinner at Smokey Bones barbecue every night in early April so he could catch Braves games on satellite. But he'd see late inning collapses and want to rush himself all the more. A maturing Gonzalez — who turns 30 on May 23 — decided to read boxscores over his morning coffee instead.

His eagerness dates back to May 16, when after six weeks as a Brave, he succumbed to the disabled list. He couldn't pitch through the pain that bothered him just putting gel in his hair.

"Being part of a winning team and just being around the superstars — the Chipper Joneses, the Andruw Joneses — was an experience for me," Gonzalez said. "I really wanted to be part of it. That hurt me the most that I wasn't going to get that opportunity to go out there and show what I'm about."

He underwent three MRIs before a specialist in New York found the tear in his ulnar collateral ligament.

His father, mother and two sisters had flown from their home near Houston to Atlanta to meet Gonzalez when he got back from New York. It was a tearful welcome home.

"It was definitely the worst thing that ever happened to me, not just physically but mentally," said Gonzalez, who expected to miss 12-16 months after May 31 surgery. "It was such a long period of time. ... It's like you're in time-out, and you're watching all the other kids in recess."

Gonzalez had led a fairly charmed baseball life. After blowing his first three saves as a rookie for Pittsburgh in 2004, he hasn't blown one since in 30 consecutive saves.

Even shoulder surgery after the 2000 season hadn't slowed him down.

"I was told it would be 50-50 chance that I would come back," Gonzalez said. "And if I came back, there would be a 50 percent chance I wouldn't throw as hard. Well I came back throwing 8-9 miles an hour harder than I ever had consistently."

Gonzalez dedicated himself to his elbow rehab. He also leaned on his family. His father is pastor of the House of Refuge church in Pasadena, Texas.

"Besides being the father, the pastor, he's my best friend," Gonzalez said. "I throw it all out at him. Sometimes I don't even need to speak. I'll just call and sigh. And he'll be like 'Son, it's part of what you're going to accomplish, part of what you'll become.' That's what he has me believing. ... It's only going to make me stronger."

As Gonzalez rebuilds arm strength, he's been hitting 90 mph on the radar gun. He expects it to climb when he faces major league hitters. Perhaps more importantly, he's throwing with no fear.

"Guys talk to me about 'You're going to feel iffy going out there and letting it go,' " Gonzalez said. "But as soon as I was given the green light, I didn't think twice."