FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Boston Red Sox pitching coach Tony Cloninger found out Wednesday that he has an aggressive form of bladder cancer, but it was detected at an early stage and Cloninger may not appear to require surgery, a team spokesman said.

Doctors found a 2-inch tumor in Cloninger’s bladder last week. A biopsy was performed to determine the extent of the cancer. He got the results back on Wednesday, showing he had a papillary transitional cell carcinoma, according to Dr. Bill Morgan, the Red Sox team physician.

“The results that have come back show that he has a grade 3 cancer, 1 being bad, 2 being worse and 3 being worse yet,” team spokesman Kevin Shea said.

The course of treatment has yet to be determined, but if doctors determine the tumor removal was successful, treatment would entail inserting chemotherapy directly into the bladder using a catheter.

That “would mean he wouldn’t miss a lot of baseball time,” said Shea, who emphasized doctors have yet to settle on a course of treatment.

Manager Grady Little said this week the team has contingency plans if Cloninger has to take time off for treatment.

“What’s number one in our thoughts is Tony Cloninger and his life, much more than Tony Cloninger our pitching coach, and we want to get that taken care of the best we can,” Little said.

Cloninger, 62, joined the Red Sox during spring training last year after serving as a scout for the San Francisco Giants. He spent 15 years with the New York Yankees’ organization, where he was bullpen coach to four World Series championship teams, as well as a minor and major league pitching coach.

Cloninger pitched a dozen years in the major leagues for Milwaukee, Atlanta, Cincinnati and St. Louis, going 113-97 with a 4.07 ERA.

AP-ES-03-19-03 2142EST