The race for the AL Cy Young Award showcases a couple of strong candidates and a dark horse. If you have followed the junior circuit this year, you probably know the exact names of the three people involved in this discussion.
The first two are, of course, Toronto Blue Jays’ Dylan Cease and New York Yankees’ Cam Schlittler. The former has a 2.33 ERA, and the latter is at an incredible 2.09, with both of them pacing the American League with 5.1 fWAR.
The dark horse is none other than Parker Messick. The Cleveland Guardians’ ace has gone from rotation hopeful in spring training to frontline starter in a matter of months, and his 2.46 ERA is actually not that far off the aforementioned aces. He is also third in the AL with 4.3 fWAR.
Messick is firmly in the AL Cy Young conversation even though he is not the favorite to take home the piece of hardware. His manager Stephen Vogt praised him for just how far he has come.
“I think that speaks volumes to Parker Messick and why he needs to continue to be in the Cy Young conversation,” Vogt said, per Cleveland.com. “What he’s doing every time out, giving us a chance to win, he finds ways to go deep into games and give us a chance to win.”
That’s what he did on Sunday. Not that the Guardians’ offense needed it because they were highly productive in the finale against the Kansas City Royals, but the southpaw still tossed a quality start by allowing a single run in six innings of work, striking out five.
Messick has exactly 9.00 strikeouts per nine innings this year, with 161 punchouts in 161 frames, and continues to ride a sneaky elite fastball to stardom. He is perhaps the most unlikely pitching star of the 2026 campaign and the hurler who has grown the most in the last year or two. He is simply amazing and has been a godsend for Cleveland’s staff.
Messick’s emergence as a bona fide frontline starter has solidified the rotation to the point that the unit can be trusted to carry the team in its most important stretch of the season. Vogt knows that no matter what, he will get ace-like performance from his lefty every five days.
NEXT: 2 Guardians Prospects That Could Be Called Up Soon
