Rangers injury update: Southpaw takes important step in returning to big league mound

The Texas Rangers get some good news during their off day regarding one of their young pitchers anxious to make a return to the big league mound for the first time September 2024.

Cody Bradford, 28, is being sent to Triple-A Round Rock to begin a rehab assignment and according to the Rangers is set to start Thursday evening's game against the Gwinett Stripers. If all goes well, he's expected to make his season debut sometime in May.

After suffering an elbow injury in the middle of spring training in 2025, Bradford started the year on the IL and eventually underwent an internal brace surgery in June to repair his left elbow.

Bradford's return will give much-anticipated depth to pitching staff

Rising in the Rangers' minor league system, Bradford made his big league debut during the Rangers' 2023 World Series title year. Despite a rough first taste in MLB, Bradford showed a lot of promise in the early portion of 2024, including a marvelous 7.2 inning gem of one run ball against Houston.

Since then, injuries haven't been too kind to Bradford. Shortly after that Houston game in April, he suffered a lower back strain and was out until the end of July. He finished 2024 with 6-3 record, 3.54 ERA, 70 strikeouts, 13 walks, 1.01 WHIP and .218 opponent batting average in 76.1 innings.

Texas has been waiting for the Aledo native's return to the pitching staff to place him either at the back end of the rotation or in the bullpen. That would pair him with an already elite group featuring Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, MacKenzie Gore and Jack Leiter.

The Rangers went into the season with Kumar Rocker as the fifth man in the rotation but due to the neck stiffness setback from deGrom, Rocker's season debut got pushed back to Saturday against the Reds.

A lot is riding on Rocker's success this year. If Rocker sucks, Skip Schumaker might give Bradford the rotation job. What would be even better is if Rocker was able to be productive and get the opportunity to improve the bullpen with Bradford's addition.