The Texas Rangers are in a pretty interesting position heading into this winter, as they have already made a large-scale trade to get rid of Marcus Semien and bring in Brandon Nimmo. Following that, they now have to continue to build the roster to compete, given that many of their core players are veterans who are on larger contracts.
In addition to that, though, development of young talent is also going to be critical, as it will allow them to replenish the roster down the road as players retire or leave. In addition, it would also let them make some win-now trades if their prospects continue to move in a positive direction, so either way, they end up in a good position.
On the bright side, the Rangers have quite a few names down in the farm system who are either nearing an MLB debut or are rapidly improving their stock and trying to get there. Some names in particular are on the verge of a breakout, and recently, Baseball America (subscription required) put out their list of American League breakout prospect candidates. The name listed for Texas is less than surprising, given his production in 2025.
Rangers Most Likely Breakout Candidate in 2026
Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Geoff Pontes of Baseball America (subscription required) was the one to list out these prospects and provide analysis on the reasoning behind their projected breakout. For the Rangers, the name given was pitcher Caden Scarborough, the team’s sixth-round pick back in 2023. He noted quite a few different points when discussing Scarborough’s potential, including pitch mix, velocity, production, whiff rate and more, including the following blurb:
“The righthander cleaned up his mechanics entering 2025 and now employs a buttery-smooth and repeatable operation. Scarborough made 19 appearances (18 starts) with Low-A Hickory, striking out 32.3% of batters faced while allowing free passes just 4.1% of the time.”
Scarborough looked outstanding throughout the entire season, both in Single-A and High-A, as between the two levels, he had a 2.45 ERA, 0.615 WHIP, 114 strikeouts, 21 walks, seven home runs allowed, 5.7 hits per nine and a 2-5 record. Despite the record, he was outstanding in all 88 innings of work and is rapidly approaching a promotion to Double-A if he continues to look as good as he did in High-A Hub City.
Caden Scarborough continued his dominant stretch, as he tossed 4 scoreless innings of work tonight for Hub City. Scarborough allowed 3 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and had 4 strikeouts on 68 pitches (66.2% strikes). Some deep counts limited the duration of Scarborough’s night, but it… pic.twitter.com/MlKsdlO0Sx
— Matthew Harris (@_MattJHarris_) September 5, 2025
It feels like the breakout has already started for Scarborough, and now it is just a matter of maintaining a high level of consistency as he continues to work through the upper levels of the system.
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