Pirates GM: Chad Kuhl expected to start at Royals, Ke'Bryan Hayes almost ready to return

May 30—Chad Kuhl is expected to return from his rehabilitation assignment at Triple-A Indianapolis and start for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday at Kansas City, general manager Ben Cherington said.

"He's ready to go," Cherington said Sunday in a video conference call. "This was really about lining up the rotation going forward."

Kuhl was 0-1 with a 6.32 ERA in four starts for the Pirates before going on the 10-day injured list with right shoulder discomfort April 22. His return comes after Chase De Jong was selected to start Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies and JT Brubaker was placed on bereavement leave, putting the starting rotation in flux.

"I'm excited for Chad to get back in the mix," Pirates manager Derek Shelton said. "I think the more options you have, the better it is. Especially pitching-wise because you can never have enough pitching depth."

Kuhl had 16 walks and 14 strikeouts with the Pirates — although he had six strikeouts and allowed one walk in his last start, a 6-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on April 18. Shelton said that was a "major conversation" with Kuhl before his rehab assignment.

"Attack the zone, go after people, your stuff plays in the zone," Shelton said. "I think that's a common theme with some of our starters this year that we've talked about but it's extremely important. Part of Chad's rehab was not just getting healthy, it was making sure that he continued to build off what he had done in that last start and attack the strike zone."

Hot Hayes almost ready

Ke'Bryan Hayes is batting .300 (6 for 20) with a 1.064 OPS, two doubles and two home runs in six games in his rehab assignment with the Indianapolis Indians, a promising sign for the rookie third baseman who has been out since April 4 with a wrist injury.

"He's played well. Not surprisingly, looks like Ke'Bryan on defense and at the plate," Cherington said. "Encouraged by everything we're getting back from him and the staff in terms of how he's feeling and responding."

After all the first two months of the season (minus Opening Day), Cherington said the Pirates decided that Hayes needed "almost a spring training progression" before returning to the majors. Hayes is eligible to come off the 60-day IL on Thursday.

"The last thing we wanted to do was sort of rush him back and then something else happens because his body was just not ready," Cherington said. "We want to be cautious with that and recognize there's still a lot of season to go, give him every chance to come back healthy from a total body perspective. So that's why you've seen maybe a little longer progression than we would in some other cases with rehab. But all reports have been good. We're looking forward to — barring something unforeseen — having him back on the team before too long."

Ready for rehab

How close are first baseman Colin Moran and corner infielder/outfielder Phillip Evans to starting rehab assignments?

"I think close, as in imminent," Cherington said. "Expect that we'll get going with that once the major league team leaves for Kansas City, we'll get that started."

Cherington initially hoped that Moran and Evans could avoid the need for a rehab assignment and but now wants to get both live at-bats and a chance to build up through baserunning and defense.

"Not sure that will need to be as long as Ke'Bryan's is," Cherington said, "but we'll get it started hopefully this week."

Surgery for Swaggerty?

Cherington isn't as optimistic about the prognosis for Triple-A outfielder Travis Swaggerty, the team's No. 1 pick in 2018 and their No. 9 prospect on MLB Pipeline.

Swaggerty, who dislocated his right shoulder, saw team doctors last week and discussed both surgical and non-surgical options. Cherington said no decision has been made but Swaggerty appears to be leaning toward undergoing surgery to repair his shoulder.

"It hasn't happened yet," Cherington said. "It's going in that direction, though."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .