Pirates' Tom Koehler: Assigned to Double-A

Koehler (shoulder) was activated from the 7-day injured list and assigned to Double-A Altoona on Tuesday, Rob Biertempfel of The Athletic reports.

After a lengthy recovery from shoulder surgery, Koehler returned to action last week at the rookie-ball level, making three abbreviated appearances. Koehler came out of the rehab stint no worse for the wear, so he'll now gain clearance for regular relief duty at Altoona. If Koehler finds some early success, it wouldn't be surprising if he were eventually moved up to Triple-A Indianapolis, which could set the stage for him to join the Pirates as a September callup. The 33-year-old owns a 4.39 ERA and 6.9 K/9 across 161 career appearances (133 starts) over parts of six seasons in the big leagues.