When Chris Paddack’s elbow “kinda locked up” on him over the all-star break, it triggered some bad memories for the Twins right-hander.

“I’d be lying to ya’ll if I said I wasn’t worried,” he said.

In the middle of his first full season of pitching since 2021, Paddack already is a veteran of two Tommy John surgeries. He had the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow repaired as a minor leaguer in 2016, then again as a major leaguer in 2022.

“I don’t think the success rate of guys coming back from three Tommy Johns is ideal at all,” he said Sunday. “So, yeah, that thought does creep into the back of your mind.”

The good news for Paddack is that an magnetic imaging exam taken on Friday revealed no damage to any ligaments in his elbow. The bad news is that he doesn’t know when he might pitch again this season.

“If it’s late July or early August, or the middle of August, late August, we don’t know that answer,” he said.

Paddack, 28, said before Sunday afternoon’s game against the Brewers at Target Field that doctors and trainers have told him he has a muscle strain in his forearm, which was a relief to both player and team.

“I gained a little bit of hope when I saw the ligament was attached and secured and looked strong in there,” he said.

At his home in Texas during the all-star break, Paddack took a couple of days off before returning to his throwing schedule on Wednesday, and while he was throwing, he said, he felt great. Then he woke up on Thursday with little range of motion or ability to flex the forearm.

“After going through two surgeries prior,” he said, “I knew something was up.”

Paddack knows his way around an MRI, so understood that Friday’s exam revealed good news, but he also knows that forearm strain can be a precursor to a torn elbow ligament.

“So, the fact that we were able to get ahead of that (and) take some stress off of the ligament is definitely a positive,” he said.

Manager Rocco Baldelli said the team doesn’t have a plan for Paddack’s spot in the rotation — Wednesday against the Phillies — except that the Twins will recall a replacement from Class AAA St. Paul. Whether that’s an arm to stay on the team while Paddack is, or different guys at different times, is up in the air.

“There would be no upside or benefit for me to have a plan a month or two out,” Baldelli said. “We’re going to call someone up for that next start in that spot and have them ready to go and pitch him. We’ll start there, and we’ll see how that looks. Anything more than that, I would be making stuff up that I’m not confident in.”

Among starters at St. Paul on schedule to start games for the Saints early this week: David Festa, Louie Varland and Caleb Boushley. Festa and Varland are on the 40-man roster, Boushley is not.

Paddack was on the IL with arm fatigue — it felt as if he were holding a dumbbell, he said — before returning to make two starts before the break, allowing a combined four earned runs on eight hits and three walks. He struck out nine. For now, he will wait for symptoms to subside before ramping back up. He has thrown 88⅓ innings this season after throwing a combined 27⅓ in 2022 and 2023.

“Your body just naturally responds,” Paddack said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, that’s enough, I’ve had enough.’ And that’s what it was, knocking on the door: ‘Hey, I need a breather, man. You’ve been beating yourself to death.’

“So, I’m thinking that the velo has been down, off speed maybe not as sharp as I would like, even though we were trying to sharpen those tools. I think this is our answer.”