Astros injury update: Ryan Pressly’s next step to returning

The Astros are expected to activate closer Ryan Pressly following a rehab outing.

Houston Astros‘ closer Ryan Pressly is scheduled to make a rehab appearance for the Triple-A Sugar Land Space Cowboys on Tuesday, per Danielle Lerner of the Houston Chronicle. The scheduled outing will be over 15 days since Pressly was shelved April 13 with inflammation in his right knee.

About eight days ago, manager Dusty Baker indicated that Pressly showed impressive velocity and location while throwing a live batting practice session. The Astros’ closer hasn’t been restricted from throwing at any point after having some fluid drained from his knee.

Then the tone changed a bit after another bullpen session where Baker indicated, while Pressly hasn’t had a setback, he also hasn’t had a step forward either.

As per usual when dealing with the status of injured players, the Astros have not divulged much information since then. So, Pressly being scheduled for a rehab appearance can be taken as a positive step forward for the 33-year-old closer.

Given the amount of days out of the mix, it was seemingly an inevitability he would need to make a minor-league rehab appearance before the team felt comfortable bringing him back into the mix. Baker did not indicate if one or more appearances were going to be needed.

Should Pressly only need one rehab appearance, a return during a four-game series with the Detroit Tigers could be in the cards. Conversely, should he need one or two more appearance, he likely wouldn’t join the team until sometime next week.

Astros Orbit:

The Astros activated Jose Altuve from the 10-day injured list Monday, while optioning J.J. Matijevic, Seth Martinez and Ronel Blanco in response. Rosters decreased 26 from 28 Monday, leading to the Astros dropping both Martinez and Blanco in Triple-A.