It now looks like a late August or September return for Twins' Byron Buxton

On Monday, Byron Buxton missed his 17th game since injuring his left shoulder during a game in Miami. And it looks like he might not return until the end of the month or even early September.

Buxton has yet to be cleared to resume baseball activates. He has been swinging a bat but has not faced live pitching or even hit against a machine. He didn't travel with the team on its recent road trip to Milwaukee and Texas.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli on Monday didn't sound as if Buxton was ready to take his recovery to the next level.

"I know there's always the tendency to get impatient and to want to see how quickly we can get a particular player back," Baldelli said. "But we knew this was going to be — I forget what the original time line was — but say a month. We knew it was going to be weeks. Not a couple weeks, but several weeks before we had an idea of the direction he was going in and maybe where that process would end."

Before Buxton is taken off of the injured list, he will have to do more than just get through a couple batting practice sessions, making a return in the next 10 days less likely. Baldelli even hinted at a minor league rehabilitation stint.

The closer the calendar gets to September, the easier it would be for the Twins to wait until Sept. 1, when rosters can expand, to bring him back.

"I think there's also a point where we're going to have to … if everything goes well, which it has … truly test it out with game-like movement and maybe even some games," Baldelli said. "To make sure that he's able to not just run and swing and play in the outfield, but do it at a level that he's going to need to do to compete at the big-league level and to really do it well at the big-league level. We're cautiously optimistic about everything going on, but it's gone well to this point."

Nelson Cruz was activated from the IL on Monday and was back in the starting lineup as the designated hitter. To make room, the Twins optioned righthander Zack Littell to Class AAA Rochester.

The same Zack Littell who has thrown 6 ⅔ scoreless innings since being called up from Rochester on Aug. 3. Littell appears to be transitioning well to the bullpen, but has an option left and the club needed to make room for Cruz.

Littell looked frustrated as he packed up his belongings, and Baldelli understood.

"I'll keep the specifics between me and Zack, but I can completely understand that there's some frustration," Baldelli said. "He's been very understanding several times over when we have done this with him. The way that bullpens work, especially in 2019, there is going to be movement in the bullpen, and guys that have the ability to go up and down are going to go up and down because you have to cover those innings. It doesn't make it right in some ways. It doesn't make it fun to have those conversations in any way."

Littell has been called up and sent down four times this season.