Welcome to the Cody Bradford immersive experience. Please fasten your seatbelts and keep your arms and hands inside the ride at all times.
You never really know which direction this thing is going to go.
And, frankly, it has little to do with his performance. It’s more about the means in which he’s been asked to perform since the 26-year-old left-hander debuted with the Texas Rangers last spring. Case in point: his first major league start came last May against the historically good Atlanta Braves, and his second start came against the 100-win Baltimore Orioles two weeks later. The last four months of the regular season included two more stints at Triple-A Round Rock, six more spot starts with the Rangers and a heap of bullpen work. Bradford — a career starter dating to his time at Baylor — pitched high leverage relief innings during the postseason. He did so brilliantly, too, with a 1.17 ERA in five games.
He arrived in Surprise, Ariz., this spring on a mission to earn the fifth spot in the Rangers’ starting rotation. He was vocal about his interest in the position, too. Shortly after Bradford officially landed the gig, the club went out and signed free agent right-hander Michael Lorenzen and signified that Bradford, likely, will transition back into the bullpen once Lorenzen is entirely built up.
That’s the expectation, at least. General manager Chris Young said Wednesday that the team will evaluate the rotation once it reaches that bridge. The first one to cross: Bradford, an Aledo native, will start the Rangers’ second game of the season Saturday against the Chicago Cubs on the day that the team will receive its World Series rings. Right-hander Jon Gray will follow Sunday in the series finale.
Bradford yielded a 5.63 ERA in 16 Cactus League innings this spring and struck out 10 batters. He initially prepared as a relief pitcher and pitched out of the stretch, but Bochy said midway through exhibition play that they’d like him to prepare as a starter. He found success as a relief pitcher in 2023 using a two-pitch mix of his four-seam fastball and changeup, but said his three-pitch mix (including a slider) feels better this season. He’s also worked to incorporate a curveball into his repertoire; a diversified arsenal is necessary if Bradford wants to last multiple times through a lineup.
His career ERA in MLB as a starter is 6.95. As a reliever? 2.82. That doesn’t include the 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball he pitched out of the bullpen in the playoffs.
“Yes, I feel comfortable out of the bullpen,” Bradford said in late February when his exact role appeared a bit cloudier. “But my heart and soul is in starting. It’s just something I’ve loved my entire career, the responsibility that comes with it. I just love the dynamic of trying to play chess with guys three times through the lineup. As a cerebral pitcher, I’d love to be a starter.”
He’ll be one Saturday in front of what will surely be a sold-out Globe Life Field crowd. Emotions will remain abuzz with the newly hung World Series banner in the right field rafters and a set of gaudy rings distributed among the holdovers from last season’s team prior to Bradford’s first pitch. He’ll likely get another chance or two at starting before Lorenzen, who opened the regular season on the 15-day injured list and is scheduled to pitch for Triple-A Round Rock on Saturday, is activated.
After that? Wait and see.
“Cody is in the rotation, no doubt,” Young said Wednesday. “There’s no doubt he’s in the rotation. We’ll evaluate as Michael builds up, how he slides in at some point. I think what we have with Cody and Dane [Dunning] and Michael and Jose Urena, we have some unique ways of really building the rotation out based on matchups. I think there may be times when we see an opener, even, and [we’ll] just try to put these guys in the best position to succeed. They’ve all pitched well out of the bullpen, and we know they’re all capable starting pitchers.”
There’s some strategy here, too. Had the Rangers opted to pitch Dunning, a right-hander, on Saturday, it’d leave two lefties — Bradford and Andrew Heaney — to throw against the Tampa Bay Rays starting Monday. The Rays, whom the Rangers swept in last season’s AL Wild Card series, yielded the third-highest OPS (.784) vs. left-handed pitching in the AL last season behind only the Rangers and Houston Astros. Dunning fired seven innings of two-run ball against the Rays last July, and Heaney posted five innings of three-run ball in his lone start against Tampa Bay the month prior. Eovaldi, who is slated to pitch in the series finale on Wednesday, is Eovaldi.
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