BALTIMORE -- Matt Duffy went 0-for-3 in a rehab assignment at Class A Charlotte Friday. Duffy has been on the injured list since late March due to left hamstring tightness.

Rays manager Kevin Cash said that Duffy is likely going to need some time before returning to the Majors since he’s been out for so long.

“It’s encouraging, [but] it’s going to be a little while, I think,” Cash said. “In all fairness to Duff, he didn’t have a Spring Training. We’re going to look to get him a bunch of at-bats.”

Cash said the Rays are going to start by playing him at third base, then possibly look at moving him around. It’s just going to depend on how he feels.

“We’ll just kind of take it day to day and see what we’re hearing from him when he tests out his hamstring, his back, all those things,” Cash said. “He’ll play some third, [and] the thought in Spring Training [was] to get him out in the outfield. We’ll try to at least get this first week or so at third base and then see how he’s responding.”

Duffy is coming off a good 2018 season with the Rays. He finished with a .294 average with four homers and 44 RBIs in 132 games.

Elsewhere on the injury front, outfielder Austin Meadows -- working his way back from a right thumb sprain suffered on April 20 -- has gotten the cast off, started to swing a bat and hit off a tee. Cash said Meadows, who turned 24 Friday, felt pretty good.

Meadows got off to a great start this season, hitting .351 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 20 games before the injury.

Pitcher José De León will pitch two innings with Charlotte Saturday. De Leon is recovering from Tommy John surgery last spring, and this outing is set to be the first time the right-hander has pitched professionally since August of 2017. De Leon has pitched in just five Major League games in two seasons with the Dodgers and Rays.