Masataka Yoshida won’t need surgery on his left thumb, but his return to the Red Sox lineup is far from imminent.

After getting a third opinion, the designated hitter confirmed the prognosis to Japanese media on Friday afternoon.

“No surgery,” Alex Cora reiterated. “So that’s good news. Now we just gotta wait. Obviously treatment and see how he feels in (a) few weeks.”

Yoshida was able to participate in some of the team’s on-field drills on Friday afternoon, but his work will be limited for some time. “No baseball activities, I mean, no swinging” the Red Sox manager said. “But at least we know that at one point, he’s gonna be available and he’s gonna be able to help us.”

Cora declined to get into specifics, but admitted that he believed it would be at least a few weeks before Yoshida is ready to pick up a bat again.

“I don’t know, I mean, I don’t want to put a timeline,” the manager said. “He needs to heal first, that’s the most important thing. Let’s not get ahead, I don’t want to get ahead of the trainers and Masa. Let’s wait for him to feel better and then we decide what we do. I think that’s fair.”

Through 24 games, Yoshida is 22-for-80 (.275) with three doubles and a pair of home runs, six walks, and 11 strikeouts. He’s scored 12 runs and driven in 11.

Yoshida exited the team’s April 28 game with a left-hand injury. Two days later, Cora announced that the designated hitter would see a specialist and undergo an MRI. Before the testing was even completed the following afternoon, the Red Sox had placed him on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to Apr. 29).

“His hand is huge,” Cora said at the time. “Hopefully we know what’s going on and we’ll take care of him, 10 days and he’ll be back.”

Ten days later, the diagnosis isn’t the worst-case scenario, but it’s far from ideal.

More Red Sox injury updates

After making a rehab start with Double-A Portland on Tuesday, Brayan Bello (lat) is trending towards a return from the injured list.

“As of now, everything is trending in the right direction,” Cora said. “There’s a chance he’ll pitch Sunday (in the Majors).”

Garrett Whitlock (oblique) threw a live bullpen session on Friday afternoon and is getting closer to game action.

“Good, good, good, good,” his manager assessed. “Let’s see how he feels tomorrow, then we decide if he goes on a rehab assignment next week.”

Triston Casas (ribs) is “walking around,” Cora updated. “Nothing yet,” but the manager did say the first baseman is feeling better.