The Rangers announced Wednesday that left-hander Cody Bradford has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. He’s missed the entire season so far while recovering from an internal brace procedure on his left elbow that was performed late last June. That UCL repair will ultimately end up costing him a bit more than 13 months. Texas already had an open 40-man spot. An active roster spot was created by placing MacKenzie Gore on the paternity list.
Bradford, 28, gives the Texas pitching staff a nice boost. After a nondescript rookie season in 2024, he broke out with 76 1/3 innings of 3.54 ERA ball last season before falling to injury. The 6’4″ southpaw struck out a roughly average 22.7% of opponents against an elite 4.2% walk rate.
While Bradford has worked out of the ‘pen and the rotation in the past, he’s lined up to work as a starter — at least initially — in his return. Over his four most recent rehab outings, he pitched one inning, two innings, three innings and four innings, slowly building up his workload. Bradford didn’t allow a run or walk a batter over his final nine rehab frames. He fanned 15 opponents in that time.
Bradford will take the mound to start today’s game against the Giants. The Rangers have been using Gore, Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, Kumar Rocker and Cal Quantrill in the rotation since Jack Leiter required ankle surgery earlier this summer. Bradford’s return can push Quantrill back into the swing role he held for most of the season to this point. Further reinforcements look to be on the horizon, too; veteran lefty Jordan Montgomery tossed 86 pitches over five shutout innings Sunday in what could very well be his last minor league rehab appearance.
