ST. PETERSBURG -- Kevin Kiermaier will resume his rehab assignment Saturday as a member of the Class A Advanced Charlotte Stone Crabs.
Kiermaier (right hip fracture) had been on a rehab assignment when he experienced a setback in the form of a stiff back. The Gold Glove Award-winning center fielder took batting practice at Tropicana Field on Thursday and Friday.
Rays manager Kevin Cash said Kiermaier will DH for the Stone Crabs over the weekend when they play at Bradenton on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. He'll then take Monday off before rejoining Charlotte at Jupiter on Tuesday.
Cash noted that Kiermaier is "going to get his ABs."
"Don't hold me to a number," Cash said. "We need K.K. to come back as K.K. We've had our hiccups with bringing guys back too soon. And we're going to do everything we can to get K.K. timed up at the plate and his body feeling good."
Kiermaier is hitting .258 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs in 62 games this season.
Matt Andriese (right hip stress reaction) will join Kiermaier in Bradenton to pitch for the Stone Crabs.
He'll go four innings or 60 pitches on Sunday and progress to five and 75, respectively, before a final tuneup. Without any setbacks, that would put him on schedule to rejoin the team by the end of August.
"Not ideal [having to watch], but [my hip] obviously needed time to heal," Andriese said. "Now it feels great and I've had no issues at all."
Andriese is 5-1 with a 3.54 ERA in 12 starts this season.
Worth noting
Cash and Wilson Ramos spoke Wednesday about the catcher's health, and how he's used going forward since Ramos has come back from knee surgery and experienced a hamstring problem this season.
"He talked to me a little bit about how my body feels," Ramos said. "My body feels good. I don't feel anything in my hamstring or calf. Knee feels great."
Cash said he stressed to Ramos to "be sure and be honest with us, and I think he has been."
"In fairness to Wilson, Spring Training is there for a reason for these players," Cash said. "He didn't have that. It went from basically weightlifting, rehab, strengthening his knee, to playing. He didn't have the normal gradual progression. He had some progression, but not your typical one.
"And I think the hamstring issue coming out of the All-Star Game probably threw him off a little bit. And it hasn't been easy to overcome that. But he was in a good spot mentally, which is probably priority one for us, and he's itching to get back out there and have some strong performances for us."