Former Rays pitcher Taj Bradley returns with a different look, results

Taj Bradley will look different when he steps on the Tropicana Field mound Friday night, wearing Twins colors and sporting a 3-0 record and 1.63 ERA that are among the majors' best.

The last time the Rays saw Bradley pitch, he was near his worst.

On July 23 at Steinbrenner Field, he couldn't get out of a mess off a second inning against the White Sox, allowing three singles, a home run and three walks, blowing a 4-0 lead in an eventual 11-9 loss.

The Rays took him out and sent him down to Triple-A Durham after the game. A week later, he was traded to Minnesota for reliever Griffin Jax.

The Rays had seen outings like that before from the hard-throwing then-24-year-old. But they'd also seen plenty like his previous two starts. Bradley was near his best, working back-to-back six-inning outings against the Red Sox and Orioles, allowing just one run.

The extreme results were not unusual, highlighted most during two stretches in the 2024 season.

Over nine starts from June 8-July 25, Bradley was 5-1 with a majors-leading 0.82 ERA. Then over his next eight starts, from July 31-Sept. 10, he was 0-6, 8.27.

Inconsistency was the issue over the parts of three seasons Bradley pitched for the Rays, in which he went 19-25 with a 4.70 over 69 games, including 67 starts.

It also was a factor in their decision to move what they typically consider a valuable commodity - a young, hard-throwing, cost-controlled starter.

Baseball operations president Erik Neander said this week that the Rays viewed the deadline deal as a trade of "very talented pieces going in both directions."

Because they drafted Bradley in the fifth round (in 2018) and signed him at age 17, because they developed him and got him to the majors weeks after turning 22, and because of the time and effort and feelings invested in him, Neander said they'll always be fans.

"It was an emotional call (with the trade news) to Taj. When you make these decisions, you're still wishing and pulling for these guys to have success," Neander said.

"You just want everything on your side of the transaction and how you're shaping your club to work out as well."

Taking snapshots to judge trades while players are still active can provide unstable assessments. At this moment, with Jax struggling (1-2, 8.00 ERA, 0-for-2 in save opportunities) and Bradley starring, it doesn't look good for the Rays.

"With Griff, obviously, we haven't fully got the train on the tracks to get the results and the outcomes that I think he has the potential to provide us, and we'll stay at that," Neander said.

"Griff is someone that had dominant outcomes out of the bullpen. We saw a really deep menu of pitches with commands and incredible work ethic, and we'll get that taken care of here in time."

How much success Bradley has will also be a factor in the judging.

In his five starts so far, the biggest difference has been the rediscovery of the dominant splitter he seemed without for much of last season. That complements his high-end fastball, cutter and curve, and is a reason he is averaging better than a strikeout per inning.

Also helping is a slight adjustment in arm angle and what Bradley told mlbbro.com is "a more conscientious way of prepping for the game."

His former Rays mates aren't surprised he is doing well.

"The stuff's always been there," starter Shane McClanahan said. "Very happy for him, and wish him the utmost success and happiness. I think it's great to see him coming into his own."

Currently injured starter Ryan Pepiot wonders if the trade helped.

"He's always had the talent - we saw it," Pepiot said. "The game humbles you, guys figure you out and then it's how you adjust off that. He took getting sent down well last year, and then the change of scenery, maybe that was what he needed.

"He'd only known one place. It works for some people; some it doesn't. So, maybe the change of scenery is working for him."

Or, starter Drew Rasmussen suggested, maybe it's the additional experiences.

"Stuff was never the question," he said. "I think it would be more how comfortable he is and the confidence with which he goes into an outing. We saw him have plenty of success. It's no surprise, right?"

Being older, wiser and more understanding of the struggles that all big-leaguers go through over the course of a season is definitely a plus, Rasmussen said.

"Having the ability to respond and bounce back through some adversity is something that he was going through the growing pains of learning," he said. "While many of us got to do it in college or in the minor leagues, when you debut at 22 you never really have the opportunity to learn those things and what it takes to respond."

There were some chuckles over Bradley's early season comments to Minnesota media about never having studied scouting reports before and being "kind of out there blind the whole time" with the Rays, given they provide extensive data.

"I found it funny," Pepiot said. "We all saw it, and I'm, like, ‘There's no way.' I wonder if it was something different, because we get a scouting report on our chair on start day. It's there. I don't know, I guess he didn't look at it. …

"But at the same time, I get it. You define your niche of how much information you can take."

Manager Kevin Cash said the Rays will be ready for the challenge.

"Taj is a really talented pitcher. Happy for the success, want to see him perform well, want to see him have a great career," Cash said.

"Hopefully we don't get the best version of Taj, because we've seen it when he's been in our dugout, that when he's on he is very tough and very talented, can create a lot of strikeouts.

"He's got off to a good start, but see if we can make him work a little bit and build the pitch count up."

Bradley told mlbbro.com's Bill Ladson he is looking forward to it:

"It will be weird being on the field in a different dugout," he said. "I'm excited to be pitching in Tropicana Field for the first time in a year. I get to face teammates of mine and friends. I'll just have fun with it."

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 11:22 AM.