Texas Rangers Scratch Pitcher After Complaints of Elbow Soreness

The Texas Rangers could be dealing with a potentially devastating injury just a couple of weeks before the season begins.

As first reported by Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, the Rangers have scratched left-handed pitcher Cody Bradford from a spring training start on Wednesday due to elbow soreness.

Thankfully, Bradford has already had an MRI which according to Landry came back clean, but he is still being shut down for the next "four or five days" in order to deal with the situation.

Whether or not this could be something more serious is unknown at this point and likely can't be determined until Bradford returns from being sat down, though already having a clean MRI certainly bodes well for the chances of Texas getting him back sooner rather than later.

The left-hander was in the midst of a strong spring before this injury, throwing nine innings and pitching to a 2.00 ERA over three starts.

"We do feel like it's important to hold [Bradford] out for the next few days to evaluate where this thing goes and how he's feeling," president of baseball operations Chris Young said via Landry while breaking the news of Bradford being scratched. "I can't tell you if this is something that's going to linger and last longer than a day or two to get the soreness knocked out...Hopefully the time off will allow it to calm down. But anytime the pitcher has pain in the elbow, it's concerning."

Bradford, originally acquired by the team in the sixth round of the 2019 MLB draft, made his big league debut in 2023 where he made 20 appearances but just eight starts.

It was not all pretty for the lefty that year with a 5.30 ERA, but it was the playoff run where he really found his stride.

Pitching in some high leverage situations, Bradford posted a 1.17 ERA in five appearances including two in the World Series and 7.2 overall innings, giving up just one earned run en route to helping the Rangers claim their first ever championship.

Making the transition to the starting rotation in 2024, Bradford was off to a dominant start before heading to the injured list in the middle of April. By the end of the season he had made 14 appearances with 13 starts, posting a very solid 3.54 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 76.1 innings pitched.

Rangers fans will be eager to see his return to the mound as quickly as possible, but Texas is understandably going to be cautious with the 27-year-old.

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