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Michael Wacha will start Sunday for Double-A Springfield, and the next pitch he throws after that appearance could be in the majors. Wacha began his preparation for Sunday’s rehab start Thursday at Springfield’s Hammons Field, and he said after a 45-pitch live batting practice session Wednesday his body gave him a familiar and welcome affirmation of his improvement.

He was sore in all the right places.

“It’s not that same ache or soreness that I had right before I was injured,” said Wacha, who has been sidelined since June 17 with a stress reaction in his right shoulder. “It’s that good soreness that you get from going out there and pitching.”

Wacha said his feel for his pitches, especially his fastball, is ahead of his stamina at this point. He said he would not feel comfortable going into a big-league game with where his stuff is at this point in his recovery. It’s not “where I want it to be quite yet,” Wacha said. He will return to the Cardinals after the roster expands Monday, though the Cardinals will need to move him from the 60-day disabled list and onto the 40-man roster before activating him.

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The Cardinals will use Monday and how righty Michael Wacha recovers from his first game appearance in more than two months to determine if the starter needs another rehab appearance or can leap straight to the majors after Sunday’s outing.

Wacha pitched two scoreless and mostly uneventful innings for Class AA Springfield on Sunday night at Tulsa, allowing a hit and one walk and striking out a batter. Because of a stress reaction in his right shoulder, he hadn’t pitched since June 17.

With Class AAA Memphis qualifying for the Pacific Coast League postseason, the Cardinals could continue Wacha’s rehab assignment this week at that level, or they could elect to have him do the rest of his rehab while on the job in the majors.

“Hopefully this is just a step in getting back here and being 100 percent,” manager Mike Matheny said before Wacha’s outing. “We’ve been very cautious with this. The team didn’t push. It shows what the organization thinks of him. With this particular injury, we’ve been as protective as we can possibly be and still wanting not to shut him down.”

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