Why is Texas Rangers Exciting, Young Pitcher Missing Opening Day?

The Texas Rangers got a dose of some tough news on Thursday morning after things did not look great on Wednesday afternoon.

As first reported by Kennedi Landry of MLB.com, Rangers left-handed pitcher Cody Bradford is going to begin the season on the injured list according to manager Bruce Bochy.

Bradford was scratched from a start on Wednesday with complaints of elbow soreness, though the worst fears have already been quelled with an MRI returning clean.

After president of baseball operations Chris Young spoke on Wednesday about the situation and said Bradford was going to be shut down for a few days, Bochy took it a step further on Thursday and confirmed he will not be ready for Opening Day after being shut down for 10 days to allow the soreness to heal.

Bradford had been enjoying a tremendous spring to this point, making it even more disappointing to see him needing to take time away from the mound as the season gets set to start.

With a 2.00 ERA over three starts and nine innings including a WHIP of 0.78, Bradford seemed to be on the cusp of a breakout campaign.

While that still very much could be the case given the MRI came back clean and his injury doesn't seem like something that will derail his year, it's always difficult to get off to a strong start when missing the beginning of the season..

Originally acquired by Texas in the sixth round of the 2019 MLB draft, Bradford made his big league debut in 2023. While his 5.30 ERA over 20 regular appearances and eight starts was not impressive, he turned it up a notch in the playoffs.

Bradford helped the Rangers win their first World Series in franchise history with a 1.17 postseason ERA in 2023 across five appearances and 7.2 innings where he gave up just one run in the Fall Classic.

With a ton of hype surrounding him entering 2024, Bradford started to show his potential with a 3.54 ERA, but he was limited due to injuries and made just 14 appearances.

Another setback is the last thing Texas wanted to hear, after he seemingly entered the spring healthy, but it seems like this should not be anything that causes him to miss a significant amount of time.

Bradford's progress will be monitored closely by Rangers fans over the next two weeks as they hope to get the 27-year-old lefty back sooner rather than later.

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