After an April filled with a brutal amount of injuries, May has brought about some great news for the Cubs on the injury front.

The headliner is Justin Steele, who is back in Chicago after a rehab outing with Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday.

He is on track to throw a bullpen Saturday and assuming everything comes out of that fine, he will take the ball for the Cubs Monday at Wrigley Field against the Padres.

“[Saturday’s bullpen] is kind of like a final checkpoint there,” manager Craig Counsell said. “But I think we’re optimistic that he will be the starter on Monday.

“We’ve missed him for a month and it’ll be good to get him back.”

Steele, 28, made the Opening Day start for the Cubs in Texas but left in the 5th inning with a hamstring injury and missed all of April.

He threw about 60 pitches in his outing on Wednesday and will be built up to somewhere around 75 pitches on Monday.

“I feel great as far as the hamstring,” Steele said. “My legs are feeling good — I feel like they’re back in the place they were before.”

Steele was able to keep throwing throughout his rehab process so it didn’t take him long to build back up once the hamstring injury healed and he got his leg strength back.

He said he feels “100% ready” and actually feels like the outing on Monday is a second Opening Day for him.

“What’s funny, I was talking to my wife about it,” Steele said. “I was super anxious about Opening Day — just like everything around it, first game of the year, first Opening Day for me and then obviously got hurt. It was nice to get that one under my belt but gotta go out and do it again.

“Excited about it. I’m more excited just to be back up with the guys. I would say mostly when I was on the rehab assignment, I missed being with the guys, being with the team, having to watch the games on my phone or wherever I was at. It’s a lot cooler being here.”

Elsewhere on the injury front, Kyle Hendricks is trending towards a return as well.

He threw 5 innings with Double-A Tennessee Thursday evening, striking out 7 and allowing 2 runs.

Kyle Hendricks’ rehab start with @smokiesbaseball:

5 IP, 7 K, 6 H, 2 ER pic.twitter.com/wTeVXAxPJR

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 2, 2024

“Encouraging how he felt and the results were encouraging,” Counsell said. “He will make another start in Iowa on Tuesday and we’ll go from there.”

Hendricks landed on the IL on April 22 with a low back strain. He was off to a rough start this season with a 12.00 ERA and 2.10 WHIP in 5 starts.

Seiya Suzuki took batting practice on the field Friday before the Cubs’ game against the Brewers and continues to progress in his recovery from an oblique injury.

Seiya Suzuki took batting practice at Wrigley Field today. pic.twitter.com/4J2RPWhzL1

— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 3, 2024

Friday represented a recovery day for Cody Bellinger (ribs) and the Cubs are optimistic he can return soon.

Jordan Wicks (forearm) and Drew Smyly (hip) played catch before Friday’s game (though not with each other).