Taj Ali Bradley (born March 20, 2001) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2023.
Career
Bradley grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and attended Redan High School. He initially played mostly outfield and catcher before. Bradley initially committed to play college baseball at Hillsborough Community College before changing his commitment to the University of South Carolina later in his senior year.[1]
The Tampa Bay Rays selected Bradley in the fifth round of the 2018 Major League Baseball draft.[2] He made his professional debut with the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League Rays with whom he pitched 23 innings and compiled a 5.09 ERA. He spent the 2019 season with the Rookie-level Princeton Rays of the Appalachian League where he went 2–5 with 3.18 over 11 starts and 12 total appearances.[3] Bradley began the 2021 season with the Low-A East Charleston RiverDogs where he went 9–3 with a 1.76 ERA over 14 starts before being promoted to the High-A East Bowling Green Hot Rods.[4][5] Over eight starts with Bowling Green, he went 3–0 with a 1.96 ERA and 42 strikeouts over 36+1⁄3 innings.[6][7] Bradley was assigned to the Double-A Montgomery Biscuits at the start of the 2022 season.[8] He was selected to play in the 2022 All-Star Futures Game.[9] Bradley was promoted to the Triple-A Durham Bulls following the conclusion of the MLB All-Star break.[10]
Bradley was optioned to Triple-A Durham to begin the 2023 season.[11] The Rays promoted him to the major leagues on April 11 to make his major league debut the following day.[12] Bradley started the game on April 12, pitching 5 innings and striking out 8, while allowing 3 runs.[13]
References
- ^ "South Carolina baseball: Taj Bradley commits to Gamecocks". The State. March 13, 2018.
- ^ "Taj Bradley Shows Marked Improvement".
- ^ "Reaching BG: Pipeline's Prospects Who Could be Hot Rods". May 7, 2020.
- ^ RiverDogs, Charleston. "RiverDogs Starter Taj Bradley Promoted to Bowling Green". live5news.com.
- ^ "Taj Bradley making a pitch to be one of Rays' next great ones".
- ^ "2021 MiLB playoffs preview: High-A".
- ^ "Write this down: How journaling helped a Rays prospect dominate". MLB.com.
- ^ "Prospect Report: Taj Bradley Cruises Again". Baseball America. April 22, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
- ^ Berry, Adam (July 8, 2022). "Bradley, Mead put in work to get to Futures Game". MLB.com. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
- ^ Berry, Adam (July 13, 2022). "Rays' top prospect ready for Futures Game, then Triple-A". MLB.com. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
- ^ "Rays' Taj Bradley: Optioned to minors". CBS Sports. Retrieved 2023-03-14.
- ^ https://www.mlb.com/news/taj-bradley-rays-top-prospect-to-debut-with-zach-eflin-injured
- ^ "Rays' No. 1 prospect Bradley debuts with mom in stands". MLB.com. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
External links
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)