Chipper Jones injury update: Braves 3B could return in two weeks

Chipper Jones, on the DL since Thursday with a leg injury, could return to the Braves' lineup much sooner than anticipated. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

Chipper Jones, who the Braves placed on the 15-day disabled list Saturday, could return in two weeks, much earlier than originally anticipated.

Jones went on the DL with a bruised left leg Saturday, retroactive to Thursday. He told CBS Sports' Scott Miller on Sunday that "a lot of blood needs to be manipulated to other places" for the leg to heal.

Miller reported Sunday that Jones underwent a procedure in which doctors drained 120 cubic centimeters of blood, which may have shortened his recovery time considerably. Doctors told him that had he not gone through the procedure, it could have been until Labor Day before the blood cleared up in that part of Jones' leg.

"I feel so much better now," Jones told CBS before the Braves took on the Nationals Sunday night. "It was throbbing. It was letting me know it with everything that I did."

So much better, in fact, that Jones said he could return when he is eligible to come off the DL.It's welcome news for the Braves, who desperately need their star third baseman to make a run to the postseason in the National League. The Braves are in the midst of a six-game losing streak without Jones starting. Overall, the Braves are 19-5 in games when Jones starts, and just 7-17 in games he has not started.