Rangers’ Josh Sborz keeping pace with ambitious timeline for return from elbow surgery

ARLINGTON — Josh Sborz has a set goal. Now he’d like to beat it.

Sborz, who has not pitched in a game this season after he underwent a right shoulder cleanup in December, threw a bullpen session Thursday at Globe Life Field and believes he can return to the Texas Rangers earlier than the worst-case-scenario early August date he’s been given.

The hope, Sborz said, is to pitch once or twice before the All-Star break in July and be at full-go for the second half. He acknowledged that the timeline is ambitious, but said, “That’s the thinking I have.”

The Rangers will play their last game of the first half against the Houston Astros on July 13.

Rangers

Sborz, a Rangers playoff hero during the 2023 World Series run, touched 85 mph during his bullpen and will throw another Sunday. He hopes to push it up to 88-90 mph, which is where he normally sits in the bullpen, between his next two sessions. He thinks he’ll begin to throw off-speed pitches — specifically the same curveball that froze Ketel Marte to end Game 5 of the World Series — in his third time out.

“The beauty of it is, I don’t throw a changeup and that’s usually the first [off-speed pitch] thrown,” Sborz said. “That maybe will expedite the process.”

Sborz, 31, would give the Rangers another potential high-leverage option at the back end of their bullpen. He’s been effective when healthy and had a 3.86 ERA in 16 1/3 innings last season and a 0.75 ERA in 10 playoff games during the 2023 postseason.

Twitter:@McFarland_Shawn

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