Freak injury caps off devastating week for Rangers' 2025 starting rotation

All week Rangers' fans have been collectively holding their breath and praying for the latest crushing injury news to the last for. However, it seemed no matter what they just kept coming.

It followed all the way to Friday evening when veteran right-hander Jon Gray exited his spring training start in the fourth inning after being hit by 106.4 mph line drive off the bat of Colorado Rockies' Michael Toglia. What fans and even the Rangers hoped for a bruise at the minimum instead Gray suffered perhaps one of the worst outcomes given the situation, a right wrist fracture.

“Not good news, not good news,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters after the game. “It’s terrible. I feel awful for him, to be this close to getting the season going. It’s just not good news. I'll get back in there and find out more, but right now, there is a fracture."

Gray is the third starting pitcher to suffer an injury followed by Tyler Mahle and Cody Bradford, who were scratched from their starts during the week with different injuries. Mahle is okay and returned to pitching a few days later but Bradford will will start the season on the Injured List with elbow soreness.

While the Rangers are still waiting to learn more about Gray's injury and gain a sense of his timeline, he will likely begin the season alongside Bradford on the IL.

It's devastating news for the Rangers and their coaching staff with only two weeks left until Opening Day. The Rangers entered this week with five starters that made up one of the top 10 starting rotations in Major League Baseball.

Now they will be in rush mode in the final weeks of spring as they figure out what to do and who should take the place of both Bradford and Gray.

If the season were to start today, Texas's rotation would for sure feature Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle. The other two spots are up for grabs with four arms in the running: Dane Dunning, Adrian Houser, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.

Rocker's spring has been the worst of the four choices and his latest outing on Friday evening didn't help his case. The most deserving candidates for two vacant spots are Houser and Leiter who have combined for only five earned runs in 21 and 1/3 innings of work. However the Rangers will likely award the spot to Dunning over Houser.

Whatever they choose to do there's one hope for the remaining final weeks of spring training and that is to please keep the rest of the team healthy. The Rangers can't afford anymore players going down, especially not to their rotation.