MIAMI -- Though the timeline calls for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to miss four to six weeks with right turf toe, the Marlins’ center fielder is optimistic he can be back sooner.

Speaking for the first time since the diagnosis, Chisholm told MLB.com he has a return date in mind: the June 9-11 series against the White Sox.

“I'm trying to be back in Chicago,” Chisholm said on Thursday. “When we fly to Chicago, I want to be playing. I don't want to miss that road trip, too. So that's the road trip I plan on being back. That should be like week number three or four of me being on the IL, and I'll be back by then.”

Chisholm, who is in a walking boot, injured his right big toe on the cement block of the left-center-field wall at loanDepot park on Saturday as he tried to make an inning-ending catch. X-rays came back negative, and the club initially called it a right foot contusion. At the time, Chisholm hoped to be ready to go on Sunday.

But Chisholm saw specialist Dr. Robert Anderson on Monday in North Carolina to get more information.

“The first doctor, I think he told us that we might have to get surgery, and that would be three months,” said Chisholm, who was limited to 60 games in 2022 due to a right lower back strain. “So after that diagnosis, I was really upset, because three months is so far from now. It would be after the All-Star Game, and it'd be so deep in the season, and I just didn't want to deal with that long process. 

“But then I went to see the specialist in North Carolina, Dr. Anderson, and he diagnosed that I could be back as quick as three-and-a-half, four weeks once we get it done the right way. And we go through the whole process the right way to be back as quick as that.”

The 25-year-old said he will need to stay in the walking boot for three weeks. Afterward, Chisholm hopes he’ll need no more than a few rehab games before returning.

Prior to the injury, Chisholm was starting to find his swing. He had gone deep in back-to-back games and had posted an .855 OPS during a six-game stretch.

“You get frustrated because things were just starting to click, and things were coming around, and the team's winning,” Chisholm said. “And everything's going just as you guys plan this offseason to come into this season, and you just get knocked down. You just don't stay down, you’ve got to get up eventually.”