MIAMI -- Maybe Andrew Painter pitches for the Phillies this season, after all.

The Phillies feared the worst when they sent him for an MRI arthrogram this week. Painter recently experienced soreness in the UCL in his right elbow, which has kept him from pitching in a game since March 1. But Philadelphia announced Saturday that Painter’s UCL is healing as expected, according to a review from Phils physician Steven Cohen.

Painter needs rest, not surgery.

“Actually better news than what we expected,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said at loanDepot park on Saturday. “The testing showed there is healing in there. So all we're going to do is just back him off for a few days, let that discomfort get out of the way and then we'll start going again.”

Thomson could not say if Painter will pitch competitively this season, either for a Minor League affiliate or the Phillies. It is too early for that.

But Thomson could not rule it out, either.

“You never know,” he said. “I don't know. I hope so, for sure.”

Painter is the Phillies’ top prospect and the No. 10 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. He sprained the proximal ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow on March 1 in his Grapefruit League debut in Fort Myers, Fla.

A sprain means there is a tear in the ligament, but the Phillies and Painter’s representatives were hopeful that he could avoid surgery with rest and a slow rehab. The shared confidence came from the fact Painter suffered a proximal UCL tear, rather than a distal UCL tear. Essentially, the location of Painter’s injury was important. In one study, 17 of 19 pitchers (89.5 percent) with partial proximal tears returned to pitch without surgery, while only four of 13 pitchers (30.8 percent) with distal tears did.

“Yeah, it's closing up,” Thomson said. “I'm not a doctor. Somebody else might be able to explain it a little better than me. But that's my understanding, it's closing up, we’re seeing healing.”

Painter started throwing bullpen sessions in Clearwater, Fla., a little more than a month ago. He was progressing well until this week. He was scheduled to face hitters for the first time on Tuesday, but it never happened because he felt soreness in the elbow.

Painter threw a bullpen session on Wednesday. The soreness remained.

Painter’s agent is Scott Boras, who has expressed his concerns about the Phillies pushing Painter too much too early.

“When you have a precocious talent when their bodies are growing -- when they have elite, No. 1 starter ability -- you have to take great precautions to reserve that skill for when there’s a union between his skill and his strength and his body,” Boras said in early May at Dodger Stadium. “That timeframe varies among players, but the normal element of it is you see a lot of college pitchers that are arriving in the big leagues at 23 and 24 with 140, 150 innings. That’s your [Max] Scherzer, [Stephen] Strasburg, [Gerrit] Cole group. Follow those models.”