Cody Bradford Injury: Rehab assignment by Opening Day

Updated on January 30, 2026 at 9:32am

Bradford (elbow) could begin a rehab assignment around Opening Day, Kennedi Landry of MLB.com. Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young indicated that May is the target for the left-hander's return.

Bradford, who recently threw a bullpen session, missed all of 2025 after sustaining an elbow injury during spring training that required an internal brace procedure in June. He showed promise in 2024, posting a 3.54 ERA over 76.1 innings, but missed months due to back and rib injuries. Texas bolstered its rotation during the offseason with the acquisition of MacKenzie Gore from the Nationals and may not have a spot in the rotation for Bradford upon his return. Beyond the top three of Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi (groin) and Gore, other candidates for the back end of the rotation include Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker, Jacob Latz, Austin Gomber and Cal Quantrill .