Rangers Choose Path of Least Resistance with Starting Rotation

Just a couple of weeks ago there were questions about how much farther the Texas Rangers rotation could take this team. Now they have a plethora of options.

In advance of Friday's game, the Rangers activated left-hander Jordan Montgomery from the 60-day injured list. To make room on the 40-man roster they designated pitcher Nolan Kingham for assignment.

That put Montgomery in a position to join the starting rotation. Going into the weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles, Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said there was a chance Montgomery could start or come out of the bullpen.

On Friday, he announced that, for now, Montgomery is a reliever. So is Cal Quanttrill. The Rangers’ rotation will be Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, Kumar Rocker, MacKenzie Gore and Cody Bradford.

Assessing the New Rangers Rotation

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cody Bradford delivers a pitch during a game. — Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cody Bradford. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Montgomery's return wasn't going to displace Eovaldi, deGrom or Gore. It was more likely to displace either Quantrill or Rocker. The Rangers could have moved Bradford to the bullpen, where he has experience and has been effective. Bradford started Wednesday's finale against San Francisco and pitched well. But he isn't as stretched out as Montgomery.

Bradford threw 70 pitches in his start on Wednesday. Montgomery threw a rehab assignment last weekend in the minor leagues and threw 85 pitches.

Why put Montgomery in the bullpen? He’s only made five Major League relief appearances in the regular season, with the last one in 2019.

Schumaker told reporters, including The Dallas Morning News (subscription required) that it had more to do with Bradford than Montgomery.

“His stuff has looked like what it was a few years ago and obviously that’s super effective,” he said. That’s no knock on Monty. It’s just that Cody has been good, and then we gave him that start and he kind of proved to us that he deserves to be in the rotation.”

Bradford threw 4.1 innings and allowed five hits and no runs on Wednesday. He struck out five and walked two. In five minor league rehab games he had a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings with 16 strikeouts and two walks. Montgomery had a 3.75 ERA in eight rehab games with 21 strikeouts and three walks in 24 innings.

Texas signed Montgomery to a $2 million deal in spring training to rehab him and have him on stand-by for the starting rotation. With the injury to Jack Leiter, his return, along with Bradford, puts the Rangers in good shape in the near term.

The decision seems to be more about how Bradford performed on Wednesday than about how both performed on their rehab assignments. Bradford did have a better era, but Montgomery’s reached a higher pitch count and was effective. That's why this is a “for now” decision for the Rangers. The next hurdle is when Leiter returns.

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