Cody Bradford (elbow) to make another rehab start

Bradford tossed two scoreless innings before the Angels got to him for three runs on three hits and a hit batter in the third. He settled in for four more scoreless frames, ending his day after seven innings with only one strikeout. The three runs were the only runs he’s allowed across two starts with a 6/3 K/BB ratio over 11 1/3 innings. The 28-year-old left-hander will take on the Athletics in Sacramento on Sunday.

It’s good to have Bradford back from elbow surgery. Despite averaging just 90 mph with his fastball, he had a 3.03 ERA in 13 starts for Texas in 2024. Today, he averaged 88.8 mph with his fastball, but he had his changeup working and racked up five strikeouts and a 40 percent CSW. He was, however, quite lucky to get outs on long flies from Buddy Kennedy and Bryce Eldridge that would have been homers in 26 and 16 ballparks, respectively. He’s probably not a mixed-league starter right now, but he might be once he gets back to throwing 90-100 pitches. He’ll face the Angels next week.

Bradford will be making his first big-league start since late September of the 2024 campaign. The 28-year-old lefty missed most of the last two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s unlikely to offer significant fantasy appeal over the final two months, but gets a nice matchup right out of the gate against a pedestrian Giants lineup.

Technically, the Rangers haven’t announced their pitching plan, but Bradford seems likely to make his season debut after missing the first couple months working his way back from Tommy John surgery. He’s unlikely to offer significant fantasy appeal, but it’s a nice matchup right out of the gate.

Bradford has missed all season following last year’s Tommy John surgery. He was able to throw three scoreless innings in Double-A last weekend, so he may only need two more rehab starts before he becomes an option for the Rangers’ rotation that will also be getting back Jordan Montgomery (elbow) and Jack Leiter (ankle) soon.

Bradford and Jordan Montgomery, whose Triple-A start was rained out tonight, are both making their way back from elbow surgery with the hopes of taking Cal Quantrill’s spot in the Texas rotation. One will probably get a chance there, with the other winding up in middle relief. Bradford is the more interesting bet at this point, but that he’s plenty experienced in middle relief might hurt his chances of getting the rotation spot.

Bradford hasn’t thrown for two weeks as a result of renewed tightness in his surgically-repaired elbow, but a followup MRI didn’t reveal any structural damage. The 28-year-old lefty is still rehabbing from last year’s Tommy John surgery. This latest setback pushes his return timetable back even further, but he’s expected to resume throwing at some point soon.

It’s merely a procedural move as Bradford has already kicked off a minor league rehab assignment as he works his way back from last year’s elbow surgery. The 28-year-old lefty will be on the shelf until at least late May.

The 28-year-old southpaw continues to work his way back from internal brace surgery. The expectation is that Bradford will be ready to rejoin the Rangers before the end of May, with a strong likelihood that he’ll work out of the bullpen initially rather than jumping right into the starting rotation.

The Rangers needed to free up a 40-man spot for Andrew McCutchen, but they did that by DFAing Dairon Blanco instead of putting Bradford on the 60-day IL. It suggests they have a pretty good feeling he’ll be back before the end of May. He might be a middle reliever then, but if he’s needed to start, he could be of interest in deeper fantasy leagues.