Parker Messick Will Give the Guardians’ Rotation a Boost
The Guardians have a few below-average starters in their second-half rotation. It sounds like Parker Messick is on his way up to provide reinforcements.
This season for the Cleveland Guardians has been one to forget.
First, they are falling well short of expectations, coming off a 2024 season in which they won the AL Central and advanced to the ALCS, where they lost in five games to the New York Yankees. Along with the struggles of players that are usually tied to the team struggles, you have the off-(or…on?)-the-field issues with Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase.
So here we sit, waiting to see what they could make of the rest of this year, even though they sit just 3 games back of the final Wild Card spot, waiting to see how they can try and piece something together to salvage their down season.
Lucky for them, and the fact that they have a current vacancy in their rotation for Wednesday’s game, their answer could mirror what the Mets were hoping Nolan McLean could provide for them in his first start.
There aren’t many organizations quite like the Guardians when it comes to pitching development. The latest rookie arm to make his debut for the club is left-hander Parker Messick. As I mentioned earlier, the Guardians had “TBA” listed as their starter for Wednesday’s game. That was before around 11:30 AM EST on Tuesday, when Messick had his contract selected by the Guardians to make his debut.
Who Is Parker Messick?
The 24-year-old was selected 54th overall by the Guardians in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Florida State. Coming out of FSU, his mechanics ranked average across the board, with 40-grades on almost every pitch, according to multiple publications.
The fastball sat in the low-90s, and there wasn’t much of a true shape to his breaking pitch. The one pitch that set him apart was his changeup, which has always ranked as a plus-pitch. His ability to execute that pitch, with the level of aggression with which he did, was the reason he was regarded as one of the more intriguing arms in the draft class.
His deceptive delivery, one that does a good job at hiding the ball from the hitter until the last second, creates extra deception from the lanky left-hander’s mechanics.
Entering August 18th, Messick is currently pitching to a 3.47 ERA across 98.2 innings in Triple-A Akron. While the walk rate currently sits a tad above 10%, it usually has not been a problem throughout his career.
Messick is not going to light up the radar gun in the ballpark, but, like many of the other arms we have seen come through the Cleveland system, he is going to be available to go out every fifth day and give the club a chance to win.
2025 Season
Coming into the season, ranked as our Guardians’ No.14 prospect, Messick was labeled as a pitch-ability left-hander that, while has seemed to max out his frames potential, has continued to find a multitude of ways to be successful on the mound.
Just as it was coming out of FSU, his changeup has continued to be a dominant pitch, ranking well above-average, and averaging over 14 inches of horizontal break. One thing that the Guardians wanted him to work on was the development of another pitch, specifically a sinker. The pitch alone has helped him increase his GB% to 44.8% and is a big reason why his expected stats mirror the peripheral stats.
Throughout the year, he has also been able to fill up the strike zone with ease, specifically with the help of his curveball, which he uses to steal strikes from his opposition.
Even without the flashy numbers, he has been among the best starting pitchers in all of Minor League Baseball. What makes it even more impressive is his ability to be as successful as he’s been with opposing hitters making the highest contact percentage of his career since he made his professional debut back in 2023.
It becomes even more of a head-scratcher when you notice the near 85% Zone Contact% that opposing hitters have. It is a true testament to how impressive Parker Messick has been this season by pitching to his strengths.
Why Parker?
I have said it before, and I have to say it again, but the Cleveland Guardians have been a disappointment. Through it all, they have had to piece together a starting rotation that, at the beginning of the season, looks completely different.
They have had nine different pitchers make a start for them this year. Of the nine, the names you will not find on the list are former Opening Day starter and recently DFA’d, Triston McKenzie, or their former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber, who they traded to Toronto at the deadline as he was nearing his season debut coming off of Tommy John surgery.
After an injury-riddled 2023, followed by an incredibly disappointing 2024, 2025 has been an utter disaster for McKenzie in particular. He made five appearances for the Guardians this year, all in relief, and in nine more games down in Triple-A. Five of those outings were starts, but he posted a 6.46 ERA in 15.1 innings.
Parker Messick now looks to take the rotation spot of the recently optioned Joey Cantillo, who continues to struggle with his command issues in each of his starts. Like McLean in New York, Messick could provide the type of outing for the Guardians that gives them the spark they need to continue their push into the postseason. He is, by far, the best candidate to fill the role if the Guardians are serious about contending.
Even though he was not on the 40-man, the Guardians hinted at the selection by moving reliever Trevor Stephan off the roster, clearing the runway for Messick to make his MLB debut on Wednesday.
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Cristian has been at Just Baseball since 2021, when he first started writing about prospects. He spent eight years working in Major League Baseball with the…