Texas Rangers Aligning Rotation For Rest Opportunities

ARLINGTON, Texas — There is a reason to why the Texas Rangers promoted Cody Bradford to make his Major League debut against the Atlanta Braves on Monday.

It wasn’t just rewarding a Top 30 prospect for a great first six weeks of the season. He wasn’t just a sacrificial lamb either, even though it ended up being a 12-0 loss.

It was also about giving the rest of the rotation a bit of a rest.

Bradford’s promotion allowed the Rangers to push back their entire rotation by one day. Dane Dunning had another quality start Tuesday in the 7-4 win and Nathan Eovaldi (5-2, 2.70) starts Wednesday in the Braves series finale.

The Rangers (26-16) and Braves (26-16) close out a three-game series with the rubber match. Spencer Strider (4-1, 2.51) starts for Atlanta. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. at Globe Life Field.

After the day off on Thursday, Martín Pérez is expected to start on Friday against the Colorado Rockies. Naturally, the expectation would be to see Jon Gray (Saturday) and Andrew Heaney (Sunday) to finish off that interleague series.

Each veteran starter went twice on the recently completed road trip and, with Thursday off, Rangers general manager Chris Young saw this as a perfect opportunity to give Bradford a spin and his rotation an extra day off.

“This is a way for us to look at the rotation and set these guys up for success by giving them a little bit of extra rest,” Young said. “We felt like (Monday), with a spot start by (Cody) and being able to push back Dane, Nate and Pérez a little bit just gives them a little extra rest.”

The Rangers sent Bradford back to Triple-A and recalled reliever Joe Barlow. That move lined up with what Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said on Monday, that a relief role wasn’t in the cards for Bradford right now.

“I don’t see that to be honest,” Bochy said. “That would take time and I don’t see that right now. He’s doing such a great job and because of what he’s done that allows us to make this move.”

Bradford was the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Month and the Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April after winning his first five starts at Triple-A Round Rock.

This may not be the only time the Rangers employ this strategy with their rotation, either.

Back in March, pitching coach Mike Maddux threw cold water on the idea of using a six-man rotation. Part of the logic was the belief that there would be enough opportunities to use off days and spot starts to do exactly what the Rangers are doing now.

Starting with this week’s homestand, the Rangers have four straight weeks in which they have a Thursday off. That includes their 10-day, nine-game road trip to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers that starts Monday.

That provides more opportunities for planned rest of the rotation, which will get a boost in the next few weeks with the eventual return of Jacob deGrom.

“You’ll see this again, more than likely, over the course of the season,” Young said. “We’re just trying to be smart about the best ways to protect these guys, to still have them out there but also give them a little breather when we can so they don’t have to make too many consecutive starts on four days’ rest.”

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