DETROIT — Andy Dirks will begin a rehabilitation assignment with Class A Lakeland, the Detroit Tigers announced Tuesday, putting him on the last stage of his comeback from March back surgery.

He can remain on his rehabilitation stint for 20 days.

Dirks had microdiscectomy on March 10, and initial estimates had him missing 12 weeks, but the initial portion of the rehab process has gone slowly, and he may end up missing something closer to 19 or 20 weeks.

Dirks has been performing baseball activities since early May, but hadn’t gone into live scrimmages until recently.