Bradford scratched with sore elbow, but MRI comes back clean

SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford was scratched from his Cactus League start against the Reds on Wednesday due to left elbow soreness, president of baseball operations Chris Young announced pregame.

Bradford got an MRI on Tuesday night, which came back clean, but the Rangers will shut him down for the next four or five days to get everything cleaned up. Bradford¡¯s scratch comes just a day after Tyler Mahle was bumped from his start on Tuesday, though his MRI also came back clean.

¡°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,¡± Young said. ¡°But yes, he is scratched for today, and he will not be pitching as we see how the pain calms down. Again, the MRI did come back clean, which we were happy with. What that means for the timeline, I can't determine at this point.¡±

Young said Bradford felt the pain in his elbow during his last Cactus League start on Thursday, during which he allowed two runs in four innings against the Padres.

¡°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,¡± Young said. ¡°We did take the necessary steps in terms of evaluating. He's been in touch with Dr. [Keith] Meister [team physician] back in Texas. We are going to shut him down for a few days and see how this goes. Hopefully the time off will allow it to calm down. But anytime the pitcher has pain in the elbow, it's concerning.¡±

Bradford was arguably the Rangers¡¯ best starting pitcher in 2024 when he was healthy. Unfortunately, he was sidelined for months with nagging back and rib injuries.

Bradford had a 1.40 ERA when he first landed on the injured list on April 14. He finished the season with a 3.54 ERA in 76 1/3 innings.

While any elbow injury is concerning, especially for a player as important to the club as Bradford, the Rangers feel they¡¯re in a good place right now with his timeline.

¡°I thought it was really good news last night,¡± said manager Bruce Bochy. ¡°My level of concern was pretty high last night, but I think we got the best of any news that we could have gotten on both [Bradford and Mahle]. We're going to shut Bradford down for a few days here, and then get him going again and see where we're at. I can't tell you when he will be back.¡±

Though if the worst does happen with Bradford or Mahle, the Rangers have a good bit of depth and coverage in the rotation, which is headed by ace Jacob deGrom, with Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker following behind him.

¡°I think you have to [feel good about the depth],¡± Bochy said. ¡°Especially when you're looking at those two young arms [Leiter and Rocker]. I just think when you have two big arms like this as depth, that's rare. That's a rare deal there.¡±