PHOENIX — After pitcher Chris Paddack missed nearly all of the past two seasons recovering from his second Tommy John surgery, the Twins knew they were going to need to manage his workload carefully.

The time has now come for the starting pitcher to take a break after he has mentioned multiple times publicly that he has been experiencing some dead arm. The Twins placed Paddack on the injured list Tuesday with right shoulder fatigue, calling up reliever Ronny Henriquez from Triple-A St. Paul to take his spot on the roster for the time being.

Days earlier, manager Rocco Baldelli said the Twins would take a day or two to assess how Paddack was feeling before making any decisions, but he noted that there was nothing acute going on.

“There are going to be ups and downs in everyone’s season, especially his, coming back from what he’s coming back from,” Baldelli said.

Paddack described the ball as feeling like a dumbbell during his last start and said his body has felt “just a little heavy” since the beginning of June.

His pitch velocity took a big dip in his last start, with the four-seam fastball two miles per hour slower than his season average. Since the beginning of the month, Paddack has a 7.79 earned-run average, giving up 15 runs in 17 1/3 innings.

“I’ve had a rough four weeks,” he said. “You can prepare all offseason, all spring training, but a man that hasn’t bene able to throw this many innings in three years now due to injury, you can’t do enough to prepare for this. We knew coming in that there was going to be a rollercoaster of events — up, down — with the body and the mind.”

Paddack was listed as Thursday’s scheduled starter against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Henriquez is a reliever, meaning the Twins are likely to call someone else up on Thursday to fill his spot in the starting rotation. Top pitching prospect David Festa, who is off to a strong start at Triple-A, is an option.

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