Maybe, after all these years, just maybe the Rangers have a success story when it comes to drafting and developing pitchers.

Jon Daniels’s track record was deplorable. It should have cost him his job years before. He endured seventeen seasons of drafting futility.  

But maybe Cody Bradford is the one bright spot on an otherwise dismal resumé.

The twenty-six-year-old lefty from Aledo, Texas, was thrown into the rotation because the Rangers had nobody else. Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, and Tyler Mahle were injured. Michael Lorenzen was signed at the end of spring training and wasn’t ready.

But Bradford got the start in the second game of the season and went five innings for a win. At the time, the Rangers were 2-0 and it looked like cause for optimism. Little did they know what awaited them.

Bradford won his next two starts as well, in dominating fashion, allowing just one run in 7.2 innings against Houston and no runs in 6.2 innings against Oakland. 

That was April 10. He didn’t pitch again until July 30. By that time, the Rangers were four games under .500 and in their freefall.

Bradford pitched two innings that day, giving up five runs, with a no-decision.

He struggled in his next start, but since then has been brilliant. He’s had a string of four consecutive quality starts. But, since his team cannot hit or score runs, he’s lost two of those. The Rangers were shutout by Pittsburgh and held to just two runs against Cleveland.

But Bradford has earned a spot in the rotation for next year and seems to be the one success story the Rangers have in drafting pitchers. 

Maybe Kumar Rocker will be the next. One can only hope.

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