Rangers hit with brutal injuries as reliever punches wall, starter lands on IL

The Texas Rangers have had some truly rotten luck when it comes to injuries so far this season. They came into the season with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer on the shelf for a while and guys like Nathaniel Lowe and Josh Jung getting dinged up in spring training.

The news hasn't gotten better in-season either, as Jung suffered a fluke injury upon his return and his replacement, Justin Foscue, was put on the IL shortly after that.

However, one of the Rangers' latest injuries wasn't the result of bad luck, but instead because of flat out stupidity. Brock Burke had a tough outing against the Astros over the weekend and afterwards, he punched a wall and broke his non-throwing hand in the process. To compound matters, one of the more pleasant surprises of the season, Cody Bradford, went on the injured list with a back issue.

Just like that, the Rangers' already-thin pitching staff got a whole lot thinner.

Rangers News: Bradford and Burke sent to IL, Texas to activate Lorenzen

Obviously Burke's injury was colossally dumb and completely avoidable. Things happen in the heat of the moment, but the most important quality of any player is availability. The silver lining with Burke is that the injury was to his non-throwing hand, although how long he could be out is is going to be determined by how bad the break is.

Bradford's injury is much more significant, and Texas has some tough choices to make as a result. Bradford was off to a great start to the 2024 as he had posted a 1.30 ERA in his three starts this season with 17 strikeouts just two walks in his 19.1 innings of work. He probably wasn't going to stay THAT good, but his production was a huge boost for the Rangers as they tried to survive until their rotation got healthy again. If he is out for a while, that is going to be a challenge to overcome.

The good news is that Texas does have reinforcements arriving in the form of Michael Lorenzen. Lorenzen signed very late in the offseason and needed some time to get built up as a starter, but appears to be good to go now. He's widely expected to be activated and make his Texas debut against his old team, the Tigers, on Monday.

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