Rangers Cody Bradford is proof old-school craftsmanship still works in the flamethrowing era

Texas Rangers' lefty starter Cody Bradford went close to two calendar years between starts. He had left elbow "internal brace" surgery performed on June 25, 2025. Since his return on August 5, he has been impressive with full command of his arsenal, which consists almost entirely of just two pitches that have pinpoint control.

He will not blow anything by you, which isn't in high demand as a Major League Baseball starter in 2026. You've got guys like Jacob Misiorowski throwing up to 105 mph for the Milwaukee Brewers, while most starters in the league typically live in the mid-90s and work off of their four-seam fastball to set up hard sliders. We get it: 100 mph heat and multiple Tommy John surgeries are the new norm, the future of the game for the foreseeable future. Everybody loves the heat and seeing players throw it harder than previously thought humanly possible.

Bradford, however, is a bit of a throwback. He is the type of pitcher from a bygone era of the 80s and into the 90s, which regularly saw guys topping out around 89 or 90 on the gun and relying on painting the edges and fooling opposing batters to get the job done. Think of some old-school southpaws like Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, the ageless wonder Jamie Moyer, and former Ranger Frank Tanana. All of these crafty left-handers had to be in complete command of their stuff because there is almost no margin for error when you throw in the 80s. Bradford doesn't have elite arm talent, so he has to be locked in on every pitch.

Cody Bradford has deftly used his retro arsenal to boost the Rangers after nearly two years away from the game

In his most recent outing against the Angels on Saturday night, he continued a remarkably consistent and impressive return after the kind of long layoff that can wreck a pitcher's career.

He went 5.1 innings, allowing 2 runs, and has now gone 20.2 innings since his return. He has a 3.05 ERA while striking out only13. He hasn't needed to be a strikeout pitcher because he is effectively pitching to contact and getting mostly weak fly-ball outs -which you can do successfully at the capacious Globe Life Field. Saturday, he got 8 fly ball outs, 4 ground ball outs, and fanned only 1 hitter. He was tagged with the loss, but only because the Rangers have been unable to hit over the past week.

Bradford is using his 88 mph four-seamer up in the zone and making it look much faster by throwing a bevy of 80 mph change-ups down and away from righties and into lefties. The almost 10 mph difference in the two pitches allows him to keep opposing hitters off balance. They have to not only guess right as to which pitch he is going to throw, but then barrel the ball. It's hard enough in the big leagues to hit a baseball solidly even if you know what's coming.

He's an ideal back-end of the rotation type of pitcher to follow hard-throwers like Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, and MacKenzie Gore. Every staff needs that old-school craftsman who makes the other team completely adjust their approach at the plate. He could also be a good candidate to be the first guy out of the pen as an in-game change-of-pace reliever. As long as he is commanding his one-two punch of soft pitches, he will have a role on this team as they continue to push for the postseason.

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