"The Brewers' pitching staff hasn't exactly wilted during the absence of Zack Greinke, which prompted the prized off-season acquisition to ponder his minor-league rehab assignment with Class AAA Nashville.

"Everybody has been pitching pretty good," Grinke said. "I was thinking, 'Do they even want me back, or are they going to make me stay down there a little while longer?' "

No chance.

Manager Ron Roenicke made it official Saturday. As expected, Greinke will make his debut with the Brewers on Wednesday in Atlanta, remaining on the every-fifth-day schedule he has been on while coming back from a cracked rib suffered early in spring camp playing pickup basketball.

For Brewers fans anxious to see Greinke pitch his first game at Miller Park, that would be Monday, May 9, against San Diego, barring a postponement or other quirk along the way.

Greinke's final tuneup came Friday night for Nashville, his second start there and third overall in the minors. He went five innings, allowing seven hits, two runs and one walk, with seven strikeouts.

"It was pretty good," said Greinke, who threw 75 pitches. "All my stuff was pretty decent. I was locating pretty good. I was able to use every pitch. None of them were, like, amazing, but they were all usable."

As for his current state of readiness to pitch in the majors, Greinke said, "It feels pretty good. Maybe I'm where I should be when the season starts. Maybe one start before that. It should be good enough to be able to pitch my game.

"I didn't really think about anything too much. I'm just looking forward to being back. I was just trying to get ready. That's all I was trying to do."

Asked about his physical condition, Greinke said, "I'm healthy, for sure. I've been healthy for a while now. I just had to get my arm strength."

Roenicke said Greinke would be restricted to approximately 90 pitches in his first outing."