By Chris Brown – STL Baseball Today

While his teammates head north to Chicago on Monday to begin a stretch of eight road games in seven days against division rivals leading up to the All-Star break, reliever Jordan Walden has stayed behind in St. Louis to throw the first of three bullpen sessions as he enters the final stages in his rehab from a right biceps issue.

Walden, who has been sidelined since the end of April due to biceps inflammation, threw off the mound for the first time last week to a standing-up catcher.

As Walden told Brian Stull of STL Baseball Weekly, the plan is for the 27-year-old to throw regular bullpens on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday of this week before going out on a rehab assignment shortly thereafter, assuming all goes well.

“I’ll ease into it, but I’ve still got to see if it’s good so I’ll let a couple go,” Walden told Stull about starting slow into his bullpen sessions. “I’ll let a few go, it’s something I’ve got to know.”

“I’m going to go rehab assignment somewhere and get some live games,” he said. “That’ll be good for me. It’s always good to see hitters.”

Walden hopes to be activated from the disabled list within a week or two after the All-Star break.

Acquired from the Braves along with Jason Heyward in the trade that sent Shelby Miller to Atlanta, Walden had allowed just one run in 10 1/3 innings of work (0.87 ERA) this season while pitching primarily in the eighth inning as the setup man for closer Trevor Rosenthal.

Read more: STL Baseball Weekly