GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Jace Fry is looking forward to a fully healthy return somewhere around the start of May, following a microdiscectomy performed in January, with the White Sox reliever feeling as good as he has since back issues began in 2019.

¡°I feel amazing. I feel healthy and symptoms that I was having before are gone. So, I¡¯m excited about how my body is feeling and our plan moving forward,¡± Fry told MLB.com during a recent interview. ¡°Even when I do small exercises, I can feel my drive leg activate the way it¡¯s supposed to.

¡°I¡¯m doing the same kind of small exercise but feeling my leg just light up in different ways. It¡¯s kind of how I was in the beginning of my career with the White Sox.¡±

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Despite missing 10 days in September because of back trouble, the 27-year-old finished 2020 with a 3.66 ERA and 24 strikeouts over 19 2/3 innings and 18 games. Fry fanned 68 over 55 innings and 68 games in 2019, and he posted 70 strikeouts in 51 1/3 innings in 2018, against a total of 75 walks in that same three-season time frame.

Epidurals and trying to fix his routine to help stabilize the back pushed Fry through the past few years, but he couldn¡¯t get back to a pain-free point or feeling comfortable when he ramped things up this offseason. Fry visited a back specialist in Los Angeles and surgery was decided as the best course of action.

¡°It was a bulging disk, and it was pinching my nerve up against my hip bone, so I had kind of constant nerve pain and numbness, and I was losing strength in my left leg, so my drive leg,¡± Fry said. ¡°I was able to get through the year. And I put the baseball down, the weights down for a month and came back and was hoping that it was going to be gone.

¡°As we progressed and intensified my workouts, I knew it was going to be a problem. So, we got the surgery done.¡±

The date of May 7 will be four months since surgery, and if there are no setbacks, Fry is hoping for a return around that point. He was part of three White Sox losing seasons prior to the ¡¯20 playoff appearance and is ready to contribute again as part of a top-notch bullpen.

¡°Even last year, it was different being able to show up and expect to win,¡± Fry said. ¡°You really have the confidence with everyone. We are stacked, so you know we have the talent. [I] just want to be a piece of it.

¡°I¡¯ve got almost 100 percent of the strength back in my leg and my toe, and all the restrictions I had are almost full go now. It¡¯s been six weeks, so now we have scar tissues formed, and we are lifting weights or at least doing some leg workouts, not so much weight. I don¡¯t have any more numbness or tingling or pain. So, it¡¯s also helped me mentally. That was day to day, every day there was pain. It¡¯s helping a lot.¡±