Mystery remains surrounding injury to this Rangers top pitching prospect

Last spring, one of the Texas Rangers top pitching prospects was sidelined due to an elbow injury but not much was known beyond that. Now, we are nearly nine months removed from that date and not only has limited information been released, he will miss yet another season.

Alejandro Rosario, 23, entered the 2025 season as the 50th ranked prospect in all of Major League Baseball before the injury. When it originally happened, President of Baseball Operations Chris Young disclosed the elbow injury that would require surgery but did not confirm whether it was Tommy John.

It was a weirdly cryptic message from Young regarding the organization's 2023 fifth-round pick out of Miami. Last week, at the GM meetings in Las Vegas, Young confirmed he'd be out for 2026 as well, referring to it as a "common elbow injury."

Rosario's injury is mystery wrapped inside mystery

While Young was tight-lipped about the injury to Rosario from the get-go back in February, his most recent update did say that the reason for Rosario's planned absence from 2026 is not totally off timeline for his recovery.

Before the recent update he was on track to maybe return to pitching near the end of the 2026 season. This now delays his return date to the mound to 2027.

There has never really been as much silence regarding injuries from within the organization which makes the team's unwillingness to publicly share the status of injury or what procedure (if any) he underwent.

In July, Dallas Morning News reporter Evan Grant, stated on X that Rosario was yet to have surgery saying the "Rangers and Rosario were working through some unrelated issues."

Rosario was on track to be a top, frontline starter

Rosario was a big project for the Rangers to take a chance on. During his three collegiate seasons with the Hurricanes, Rosario finished with a 13-13 record, 6.47 ERA, 198 strikeouts, 98 walks and1.63 WHIP in 200.1 innings.

Once drafted, Texas went through a massive re-haul in his mechanics and pitch mix which ended with a high strikeout percentage (36.9%) and a 9.9 K/BB ratio and in his first pro season in 2024, Rosario appeared in 18 games (17 starts) to the tune of a 2.24 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, struck out 129 batters and allowed just 13 free passes.

Rosario was on track to start the 2025 season with Double-A Frisco and spend majority of his season with the Crawdads after a tremendous first season in professional baseball. Through those changes he was throwing 94-98 mph with his fastball with a sinker and splitter with devastating strikeout potential and scouts were intrigued with his "upside of a frontline starter."

He was well on his way to being one of the top pitching prospects in baseball and perhaps one of the organization's most underrated draft picks in recent history.