DETROIT — Not only does Jazz Chisholm Jr. believe he can avoid surgery, he also believes he can return before the end of his minimum 10-day stint on the injured list.
The Yankees may ultimately put a bit of a pause on Chisholm’s plans for a quick return from a sprained lateral epicondyle in his left shoulder, but the third baseman was encouraged by his condition Friday, having not felt any pain since the injury was sustained Monday.
“I’m 100 percent confident I’ll be back at the end of the 10 days,” Chisholm said after playing catch at Comerica Park.
The elbow injury is in his non-pitching arm, but after a few days of treatment and strengthening around the ligament, Chisholm’s first baseball activity was playing catch.
The real test will be seeing how Chisholm responds when he swings the bat, which he thinks could happen in the coming days.
“Knowing me, I really wanted to rush out and start swinging a few days ago,” Chisholm said, “but now I’m going to get with the training staff and I’ll probably be up and running in a day or two.”
Chisholm has remained optimistic about his injury from the start, even saying he was “not too worried” about it Monday night before an MRI on Tuesday revealed the sprain.
He does not plan to receive any injections and expressed confidence that he will ultimately not need surgery.
“We’re definitely trying to avoid surgery,” Chisholm said. “Surgery would only be necessary if the condition worsens, but so far, it’s getting better every day.”
Manager Aaron Boone was more cautiously optimistic, saying the Yankees won’t know for sure until Chisholm returns and plays “at full strength.”
“He’s got really good strength and range of motion,” Boone said, “so we’ll do some treatment to get all of the pain out and then we’ll get into baseball activities and see how that phase goes. Hopefully it won’t be too long, but we’ll have to get there.”
“We are in the pain relief stage. [stage]But I think the early signs are promising.”
