By: J. Daniel Pearson
Caden Scarborough is a man on the move.
Scarborough, who graduated from Harmony High School in 2023, was recently promoted to Hub City (Spartanburg, SC) of the South Atlantic League, the Texas Rangers’ “High-A” minor league team.
The move came after Scarborough threw five innings of no-hit ball against Charleston in the Carolina League last week – striking out seven and walking just one. That, combined with a two-hit, five strike out performance five days earlier against Columbia, earned Scarborough South Atlantic Pitcher of the Week honors.
Scarborough was extremely impressive in his first start in High “A.” Pitching against Greenville last night (8/21), Scarborough worked five innings of one hit ball. He did not give up a run, walked just one and struck out nine.
Scarborough’s rise is in direct contrast to what was somewhat of a slow start of his professional career.
Drafted in the sixth round of June 2023 Free Agent Draft (171st player overall), he spent the last few months of his abbreviated first season at the Rangers training facility. Experiencing some shoulder discomfort, the organization decided to err on the side of caution and not push him in his first full season. Splitting time between the Arizona Complex rookie team and low Class “A” ball, he appeared in just six games and had a 6.99 ERA in 10.1 innings of work.
But Scarborough began to come into his own this season, showing some of the talent that made him both the basketball and baseball “Player of the Year” his senior year at Harmony.
He began the year with Hickory (Low Class-A). In 19 games and 18 starts, he recorded an outstanding 2.88 ERA – allowing just 24 earned runs and recording 95 strikeouts in 75 innings. His 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings pitched ranked among the best in the league among starting pitchers.
His last four starts – including last night’s performance against Greenville — were even more impressive, as he recorded a 0.36 ERA – allowing just 10 hits, one earned run and 25 strikeouts in 21 innings of work.
He has shot up on the Rangers top prospect list, going from unranked two summers ago, to number 28 at the beginning of this season, to the number eight prospect in the organization in the latest rankings released in August.
The 6-5, 190-lb. Scarborough has impressed with a 95 MPH fastball that has reached as high as 98 this season. That pitch goes with a developing changeup that keeps hitters off-balance.
His style has more than impressed the scouts. According to the Pipeline updated scouting report: “Scarborough’s effortless delivery creates a flat approach angle and elite extension. He has provided consistent strikes in his first extended taste of pro ball in 2025, though he barely has begun to dabble with a sinking mid-80s changeup. He has proven more polished than expected and is one of the more intriguing young arms in the system.”
Although not surprised at his talent, his former Harmony coach said he was impressed with Scarborough’s adaptation to the professional game. “Caden was a two-sport athlete that was gravitating more towards basketball than baseball,” Heath Williams said. “The talent was always there, but I am somewhat amazed and impressed at how quickly he has adapted to professional baseball. It is such a different game at that level.”
Williams used a recent example to illustrate it. “Caden had a few days off and was visiting his parents. He calls me and says he wanted to know if he could come out to our field and get some throwing in because he didn’t want to break his training routine. That’s a pretty mature approach for a young kid that was supposed to have a few day off.”
Should he reach the majors he would join a very select group of Osceola County high school players to reach “The Show.” The last was Osceola High’s Edwin Rios, who played the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds from 2019-24.
