Bradford continues to prove his worth with 5th straight quality start

ARLINGTON -- Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux knew from his first Spring Training with Cody Bradford that there was something good with this kid. Even so, nobody could’ve known or planned on Bradford doing what he’s done this season.

With a fair amount of rotational depth, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy admits that the staff entered the season expecting Bradford to operate in more of a swingman type role. Bradford entered Spring Training emphasizing the fact that he is a starting pitcher and he was competing for a spot in the Texas rotation.

Outside of a months-long stint on the injured list, Bradford has done more than enough to prove he’s a big league starting pitcher.

After tossing six innings of one run ball in the Rangers’ 3-1 win over the Angels on Thursday night, the left-hander has now recorded a quality start in each of his last five outings. That’s the longest such streak by a Texas starter in 2024 and longest since Nathan Eovaldi threw seven straight quality starts from April 18-May 23, 2023.

“To be honest, today didn’t feel like a great rhythm,” Bradford said. “I know the numbers say one thing and the feeling might say another. I don’t like walking people. Today, I had two unnecessary walks, one of which led to the only run scored tonight. That bites at me.”

Even so, Bradford allowed just two hits and two walks against the Angels, all the while utilizing a fastball that averaged 88.5 mph. That’s about a mile and a half slower than his yearly average, though both Bradford and Bochy were unbothered by the slight velo drop.

Bradford said Maddux and catcher Jonah Heim both urged him to go back to the fastball after he strayed away from it in the middle innings. After the two told Bradford to read the swing, he went back to the four-seamer and proceeded to retire the final 10 batters he faced.

“I noticed in the second inning maybe, I looked up at the gun -- and I hate when I do that -- and noticed it was 88 mph,” Bradford explained. “Usually my best bullets are around 90-91 mph this time of the year. I think that’s actually what caused me to get away from the fastball and not trust it. Because I let a number on an electronic scoreboard dictate how I pitched to a line. That’s unacceptable. Kudos to them for helping me trust my stuff and get back to that.”

Bradford had a 1.40 ERA in three starts before landing on the injured list with nagging back/rib issues that lasted months longer than expected. He had one rough relief outing against the Cardinals in his return from the injured list, but he’s looked as good as ever since then, with a 2.88 ERA in seven starts after the St. Louis outing.

Bradford has admitted that he’s even surprised himself a little bit with how good he’s been this year. But he credits that to just being able to trust his stuff more each and every day.

A big part of that has been his curveball usage.

Bradford spent the offseason working on reintroducing the curveball to his repertoire. It was a pitch he leaned on in college, but it was scrapped after it got hammered during his first full season of pro ball in High-A.

After working on it all offseason and Spring Training, he came into his second big league season hoping to prove he could use the curveball as his third pitch.

“This may sound a little weird, but it was the first game against the Cubs [that I realized it worked],” Bradford said. “Over the offseason, Mike said, ‘Hey, come to Spring Training with the curveball that you throw a strike.’ Throughout the spring, he challenged me to keep using it. In the first game against the Cubs, I got a strikeout with the curveball. He told me I need to trust that I could keep doing it. And it's little things like that that just kind of surprised me. You don't know how good your stuff is gonna play until you just execute it.”

Bochy said it was long before then that he began to trust Bradford. It started last year, when he was called up and handled himself like a pro each and every day on a team full of superstars.

He’s only gotten better since, from his command to his pitch sequencing and everything in between.

“You go back to last year, he was so good then, and so I think he just continued to build off that,” Bochy said. “But with the time that he missed, what's really impressive to me, is how he's come back, and he's stronger than ever, and he's pitching deeper in a game than he was last year. He's so tough mentally. Even when things don't go right out there, he just has that great ability to put it behind him and focus.”