Astros activate Evan Gattis from the 15-day DL; option Matt Duffy

The Houston Astros picked up their first home win of the 2016 season on Monday against the Kansas City Royals. The Astros added some more good news shortly after the game, announcing the team had activated designated hitter Evan Gattis from the 15-day disabled list and optioned Matt Duffy to Triple-A Fresno.

#Astros announce that Matt Duffy has been optioned to Triple-A. Evan Gattis will be activated off the 15-day DL.

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 12, 2016

Gattis, 29, spent much of the season dealing with a sports hernia. He had surgery just before the start of Spring Training with a time-table of four-to-6 weeks for recovery -- which puts him right on schedule.

He batted .246 (139x566) with 20 doubles, 11 triples, 27 home runs, 88 RBIs, and 101 OPS+ in his first season with the Astros after being traded from the Atlanta Braves during the offseason.

Gattis was placed on the 15-day disabled list as the Astros set their Opening Day roster, backdating to March 25th. Gattis completed his rehab assignment with Double-A Corpus Christi, he batted .400 (6x15) with two home runs and four RBIs in four games.

Duffy, 27, returns to the Pacific Coast League, where he was named the league's MVP last season. Duffy pinch-hit in three games for Astros during the first week of the baseball season, going 0-for-3.

The Astros players reacted tot he return of Gattis:

"He is one of those players, last year driving in a lot of runs, lot of rbi's," Colby Rasmus said of Evan Gattis coming back, "he's going to be huge for us, I'm excited to have him back he's a big part of our team, a big strength of our team."

Carlos Correa is also a little happy to see oso blanco back.

Carlos Correa on the return of Evan Gattis #Astros

A video posted by Joshua reese (@iammrjoshua) on Apr 11, 2016 at 9:11pm PDT