Rangers RHP Caden Scarborough Is A Potential Hidden Gem
Image credit: Caden Scarborough (Photo by Bill Mitchell)
What a difference an offseason can make for a player.
It’s often the work we don’t see that makes or breaks a career in baseball. Short samples in this game are fleeting. A few good starts can simply come down to good luck while a rough couple of turns can be boiled down to the opposite. That’s particularly so when it comes to young pitchers drafted out of high school—early returns aren’t always indicative of upside or current talent.
Such is the story of Caden Scarborough, a sixth-round pick out of Harmony (Fla.) HS in 2023.
Scarborough made his professional debut in 2024 with four appearances in the Arizona Complex League before reemerging at Low-A Hickory with two games late in the season. The 6-foot-5 righthander struggled at each stop of his debut, logging a 6.97 ERA and nine walks to 13 strikeouts across 10.1 innings.
This spring, Scarborough showed up to camp noticeably more physical, having gained muscle in the offseason. The buzz out of camp began early and ended with him being assigned to Low-A Hickory once more. Scarborough was named the Opening Day starter and tossed three innings, allowing one run on a hit and three walks with four strikeouts.
While Scarborough’s command came and went throughout the night, the quality of his fastball and the improvement in the direction of his operation were noticeable. His fastball averaged 95 mph and touched 97 at peak while generating heavy armside run from his low righthanded arm slot. That slot creates an unusual shape on Scarborough’s four-seam fastball. It’s not too dissimilar from the fastball of top Blue Jays prospect Ricky Tiedemann, as it generates more inches of armside run than it does ride. This is typically a primary marker of a two-seamer from a more vertical slot. This unique wrinkle in Scarborough’s release makes him different and, more often than not when it comes to pitching, different can work.
Scarborough’s fastball is up 2 mph year-over-year in his first starts for 2025. If he can prove these gains are here to stay, his fastball could develop into a plus pitch. His blend of release traits, movement, power and flat plane allow him to use the pitch at an alarmingly-high rate and still find success. In his first start, he threw the pitch 83% of the time, and despite it’s extreme usage, it still generated a 30% in-zone whiff rate.
Scarborough’s primary secondary is a big sweeper in the low 80s with spin rates in the 2800-2900 rpm range. It’s a pitch that will flash above-average at it’s best and will be an easy take at it’s worst. It’s a solid starting point for a wipeout pitch, but a harder breaking ball in between his fastball and sweeper will likely be an important part of his development. Scarborough will also flash a changeup, but it’s not a major part of his arsenal at present.
Scarborough perfectly encapsulates the risk and reward of high school pitching prospects and the slow, methodical development path they face in their climb to the major leagues. He has unique traits that could portend success in time, but he’s still learning his craft and honing the final shape of his repertoire. For now, Scarborough is an intriguing Low-A righthander with a big fastball, a high-spin breaking ball and plenty of projection as a starter.
