Bradford was sidelined for all of last season after elbow surgery when Schumaker was a senior adviser within the team’s front office. He didn’t pitch in either series against Schumaker’s Miami Marlins in his first two big league seasons. He wasn’t quite healthy enough to pitch in any somewhat meaningful camp games this spring. 

“He’s just a pitch-maker,” Schumaker said. “I think the way he utilizes his changeup is super effective. He throws it to lefties, righties, back to back. I mean, he’ll throw it four times in a row, and the fastball plays up because of the changeup. It’s tough to sit on one pitch, and even if you’re sitting on the changeup, it’s off the end because the depth of it is very unique.”

Jacob deGrom has battled hip soreness for more than a month and must be monitored. Kumar Rocker has already thrown more innings this season than he has in any other professional campaign. Jack Leiter has yet to begin a minor league rehab assignment as he works his way back from ankle surgery. Jordan Montgomery returned from his own elbow surgery just days after Bradford, but in his season debut against the Baltimore Orioles, he looked shaky out of the bullpen. 

Bradford, on the other hand, has looked sharp since he was activated last week. He threw 75 pitches in seven innings of three-run ball in a 3-2 loss against the Angels at Angels Stadium on Tuesday night and became the third Rangers pitcher to work that deep into a game since the All-Star break. He’s also only the third Rangers pitcher in the pitch tracking era, which began in 1988, to throw 75 or fewer pitches in a start of seven or more innings. 

“He was fantastic,” Schumaker said. “He’s a pitch-maker. You can see him taking notes in between innings and trying to make sure that he’s not repeating the same sequences. He’s just really, really smart.”

He likely would’ve pitched further into the game if he wasn’t still under a workload governor, and as much as he was encouraged by the length of his start, he bemoaned “atrocious” mechanics that led to “one big inning” in which the Angels scored all of their runs. 

“My body felt really good,” an agitated Bradford said after his start. “Mechanically, I felt like I was fighting myself, just very atrocious.”

He’ll have the opportunity to correct that.

The Rangers suddenly need him to.