ARLINGTON, Texas — Caden Scarborough, the Texas Rangers’ No. 2 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has a right elbow strain and will be shut down for the next four to six weeks, MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry reported Friday afternoon.
Scarborough was in the Rangers’ pitching lab this week and did not recover well from the work, according to Landry.
“Plans for the fall and his workload are ongoing as he recovers,” Landry posted on X.
On Friday, High-A Hub City placed the right-hander on the 7-day injured list. Scarborough has not pitched since Aug. 21 at Rome, when he went 4 innings and allowed 8 hits, 5 earned runs, and 1 walk without a strikeout. A week earlier, on Aug. 14 against Greenville, he went 4.2 innings and gave up 7 hits and 8 earned runs with no walks and 2 strikeouts. Between those two starts, he threw 8.2 innings, allowed 15 hits and 13 earned runs, and struck out 2.
His lone win of the season came Aug. 7 at Bowling Green, when he threw 5.2 innings and allowed 1 hit, no earned runs, and 2 walks with 5 strikeouts.
For the season, Scarborough is 1-7 with a 5.16 ERA in 14 starts across 52.1 innings, with 45 hits, 16 walks, and 52 strikeouts. Twelve of those starts came with Hub City, where he went 1-5 with a 5.03 ERA in 48.1 innings. The other two were rehab starts in the Arizona Complex League.
Caden Scarborough Opened 2026 After Melanoma Surgery
Scarborough reported to minor league camp in Surprise on Feb. 26, about 10 days after the rest of the organization’s minor league starting pitchers, after having a malignant melanoma removed from his neck, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News reported. He said at the time he would undergo monthly immunotherapy treatments to guard against a recurrence.
Hub City placed him on the 7-day injured list on April 2 before the season opened. He made rehab starts for the ACL Rangers on May 15 and May 22, then was activated May 29 and started that night at Greensboro, going 4 innings and allowing 2 hits and 1 earned run with no walks and 3 strikeouts.
In June, he made 4 starts, threw 15.1 innings, and struck out 22 with a 3.52 ERA. On June 19 at Frederick, he struck out 9 in 4.2 innings.
On July 1, Major League Baseball named Scarborough the Rangers’ lone representative for the All-Star Futures Game. He pitched for the American League team on July 12 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Caden Scarborough’s Path From Sixth-Round Pick to No. 2 Prospect
Texas drafted Scarborough in the sixth round of the 2023 draft, 171st overall, out of Harmony High School in Florida and signed him for an over-slot $515,000 bonus to keep him from a Dallas Baptist commitment. A lat strain limited him to 10.1 innings in 2024.
In 2025, he made 21 starts in 22 appearances between Single-A Hickory and Hub City and went 2-5 with a 2.45 ERA in 88 innings, with 56 hits, 21 walks, and 114 strikeouts. Hickory promoted him to Hub City on Aug. 21, 2025, after he was named Carolina League Pitcher of the Week. He did not allow an earned run in 13 innings over 3 starts at High-A to close the year.
MLB Pipeline ranks Scarborough second in the organization behind shortstop Sebastian Walcott, who missed much of this season recovering from internal brace elbow surgery.
Scarborough turned 21 on April 1. Per Landry, the Rangers have not settled his fall plans or his workload while he recovers.
