Yankees’ Jose Caballero on IL, Anthony Volpe returns | What it means

BALTIMORE — Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero was optimistic that he’d return in a day or two after jamming his right middle finger on a pickoff attempt at first base last Sunday in Milwaukee.

His trip to New York for a Tuesday morning MRI didn’t go well:

His finger has a small fracture.

Caballero was placed on the 10-day IL and replaced by Anthony Volpe, who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to be the regular shortstop.

The Yankees, however, believe Caballero could return after missing 10 days. When that happens, manager Aaron Boone said the “expectation” would be that Caballero would reclaim the starting shortstop.

“Hopefully, it’s just the 10 days, but we’ll see,” Boone said. “It just depends how he heals up over the next few days. The tendon and ligaments are all good, so we don’t think it’s going to be long.

“Cabbie fought to not go on (the IL), give it a few days, but we just felt like we didn’t want to risk him doing something more to it to where it becomes something he had to deal with all summer.

“(Doctors) feel like it’s pretty straightforward and the small fracture will heal itself and should be a non-issue once he gets through it.”

As for Volpe potentially remaining on the roster with Caballero, Boone said no decision has been made on that.

For Tuesday’s game, Max Schuelmann was in the Yankees’ lineup at shortstop for the second night in a row.

Volpe was expected to arrive in Baltimore around the 6:35 p.m., start time.

Volpe began the season on the injured list recovering from offseason left labrum surgery and seemingly would reclaim his starting shortstop job after playing rehab games.

General manager Brian Cashman even stated as much last month, but the organizational plan changed when the Yankees got off to a great start with Caballero playing excellent defense as the regular shortstop while contributing offense and stealing bases.