This Ranger is ready to make mark on rotation

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry's Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- When Cody Bradford was asked about his goals for the spring, he gave a laugh, as if knowing how his response would sound.

¡°I¡¯m a man of achievable goals,¡± he said. ¡°My goal is to make the team. That sounds funny, but seriously. I'd love to be a starter and make the starting rotation. I¡¯m super excited to be here. My body feels healthy. It's great to see all the rest of the guys healthy, and I¡¯m excited for what we can do.¡±

Bradford probably has a good shot. Better than good, actually.

¡°Look what he did this last year,¡± said manager Bruce Bochy. ¡°That¡¯s a great attitude on Cody's part, just staying humble and knowing that it's competitive -- it¡¯s always going to be competitive. You don't assume anything, but I think if you look at the body of work that he did last year, I don't know who is better.¡±

There¡¯s an argument to be made that the 26-year-old lefty was the Rangers¡¯ best starter in 2024, even with the nagging back and rib injury that kept Bradford sidelined for months.

He was without a doubt Texas¡¯ most consistent pitcher.

Bradford had a 1.40 ERA when he landed on the injured list on April 14. Across his first three starts, he held opposing batters to a .145/.169/.203 slash line in 19 1/3 innings. Despite one rough relief outing against the Cardinals (five runs in two innings) upon his return from injury, he finished the season with a 3.54 ERA in 76 1/3 innings.

In theory, he could almost be written into the Opening Day rotation in Sharpie.

¡°It¡¯s about pitchability,¡± Bochy said. ¡°He commands the baseball. It's incredible how good you can be out there when you have a mix. He's got a great mix and he's got command of all four quadrants [of the strike zone]. We talk about the extension on his pitches -- he's got that going for him, so it plays more than what you may see on a radar gun.

¡°There's a lot of reasons why he's doing such a great job. On top of that, though, it's just how well he's prepared. Well, he can adjust during the course of a game. He's gone through that order three times, but he's a student of the game.¡±

If healthy, Bradford is obviously a huge asset to a Rangers team looking to get back to the postseason.

Bochy himself noted that Bradford could be useful out of the bullpen in long relief. During his rookie season in 2023, Bradford had a 6.95 ERA in 33 2/3 innings as a starter compared to a 2.82 ERA in 22 1/3 innings as a reliever. He worked mostly as a reliever during the 2023 postseason.

But Bochy also said that, as of now, Texas is looking at Bradford as a starter throughout camp.

¡°He¡¯s shown flexibility going back and forth,¡± Bochy said. ¡°He could fit any role. But right now, we¡¯re looking at Cody as a starter.¡±

In a perfect world, Bradford would join a rotation headed by Jacob deGrom that also features Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray and Tyler Mahle -- but rookies Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter are surely knocking on the door of consistent big league time.

Bradford has said each spring for the past three years that he wants to be a starting pitcher. He¡¯s never wavered from that part of the equation, and he¡¯ll spend all spring working toward it.

¡°I learned a lot about myself last year,¡± Bradford said. ¡°I learned a lot about baseball and how to get through the lineup two or three times. I think that was really important for my development, and really grateful for [pitching coach] Mike [Maddux] and [Bochy] and the organization for giving me those opportunities pre-injury and post-injury, too. So, I'm excited to begin moving forward in that direction again.¡±