Insider Makes Parker Messick’s Case For Two Major AL Awards

On Wednesday, Parker Messick threw a fantastic game. Yes, his final stat line might seem a bit disappointing, but that’s because he has set the bar extremely high for himself. After all, we are talking about a quality start: six innings, three runs, seven hits, no walks, and eight punchouts in a high-stakes duel that helped his team, the Cleveland Guardians, retake the division lead.

If you think about it, he only made one mistake: he left a curveball in the fat part of the zone that Tommy Pham punished for a three-run home run. Other than that, he did what he has done all year: keeping opposing offenses at bay.

Team insider Paul Hoynes is certainly appreciative of Messick’s talent and 2026 output. In fact, he not only endorsed him as a clear AL Rookie of the Year candidate; he went a step further.

“The win went to rookie left-hander Parker Messick (12-9, 2.57). If Messick wasn’t a serious candidate for AL Rookie of the Year and the AL Cy Young award, he is now. In his biggest game of the season, Messick struck out eight and allowed three runs in six innings,” Hoynes wrote.

Maybe Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers is the slight favorite to win the award, but it’s very hard to directly compare pitchers and hitters in the race for the AL Rookie of the Year. We will go with the guy who went on to become the ace of a playoff-caliber team.

Now, the AL Cy Young Award is a much harder proposition, but that doesn’t mean Messick shouldn’t be considered. The thing is that Cam Schlittler seems to have separated from Dylan Cease, who is a really strong candidate in his own right.

Messick is third in fWAR in the American League behind those two, tied with Reid Detmers and Drew Rasmussen at 4.6. He is also third in the junior circuit with his 2.57 ERA, behind Schlittler and Cease.

Evidently, there are two top dogs in the AL Cy Young Award race, but Messick has done enough to be a finalist for the piece of hardware, and that alone deserves a lot of praise.