Peacock 'feels awesome' after bullpen session

KANSAS CITY -- Right-hander Brad Peacock, who has been on the injured list because of right shoulder soreness, was on the Astros' late-night team flight to Kansas City after Thursday's home series finale against the A's. The overriding purpose of Peacock's journey was to throw a Friday bullpen session at Kauffman Stadium, and it turned out to be a productive business trip.

Peacock stood at his locker after that 20-pitch session and he expressed optimism that he's on a path that could propel him into the mix as the Astros gear up for the postseason.

"I felt awesome," Peacock said. "Just a little rusty with the offspeed stuff, but the ball was coming out good and I feel great."

Peacock had been shut down a couple of weeks ago after a recurrence of shoulder pain. But he said the medical staff traced the problem to his neck and the results from neck treatment have been encouraging.

"There were some nerve issues in there," Peacock said. "I've got that under control and I feel a thousand times better."

Peacock is tentatively scheduled to throw another bullpen during Monday's off-day.

Manager AJ Hinch is pleased with where Peacock currently stands in the recovery process.

"It was a really good day for him and I think he's pain-free for the first time in maybe months," Hinch said. "He'll throw another bullpen when we get home and he's going to need probably three of those before we get into considering a live BP session or throwing him right back into a game. Clearly, we've run out of [Minor League] games for that timeline. So, we'll have to be creative with what we do."

Pressly update

Meanwhile, the Astros await another bullpen session barometer on Saturday when All-Star right-hander Ryan Pressly, battling back from arthroscopic knee surgery, is expected to throw.

"[Pressly] feels outstanding," Hinch said. "We could press the fast forward button and we would have great regret if we did, and it turned out bad. So, he'll advance to the next step and face some hitters here pretty soon. We still have a target date that's a few series away from him being active. But we couldn't be happier with where he is. We just don't want to press the fast forward button and do something that would cause any more inflammation."