Cleveland Guardians left-hander Parker Messick finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year Award vote, announced on Monday night. Detroit Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle, the slight favorite coming into the night, overwhelmingly took home the honor.
McGonigle took 28 of the 30 first-place votes issued by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Messick received the remaining two first-place votes.
Detroit's Kevin McGonigle received 28/30 first-place votes to win AL Rookie of the Year.
Parker Messick finished second and received two first-place votes.
— Tim Stebbins (@tim_stebbins) November 10, 2026
Messick became the sixth Cleveland player to finish second in the AL Rookie of the Year Award race since the last winner, Sandy Alomar Jr. in 1990. Kenny Lofton (1992), Manny Ramirez (1994), CC Sabathia (2001), Francisco Lindor (2015), and Tanner Bibee (2023) were also runner-ups.
The Guardians left-hander probably deserved a much closer vote, though. While it’s true that McGonigle led all American League position players with 7.1 WAR, according to Baseball Reference, Messick was second in the junior circuit in pitching WAR per the same site, with 6.3. Only Cam Schlittler (7.0) had more.
McGonigle finished the 2026 campaign with 18 home runs, 12 stolen bases, 97 runs scored, and a 129 wRC+. Those are excellent numbers, no doubt, but Messick’s 2.56 ERA and 193 strikeouts made him the ace of the Guardians’ staff and one of the three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award.
Becoming an excellent all-around position player is certainly worthy of accolades and celebration, but Messick turned into an ace for a division winner. That’s why he probably should have had more first-place votes, at the very least.
On a cool note, other Guardians players received some votes down on the ballot. Chase DeLauter, who morphed into the Guardians’ best hitter as a rookie, finished sixth and got a second-place vote. Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 pick of the 2024 MLB Draft, finished 10th. Payton Tolle, the Boston Red Sox’s lefty, finished third in the vote and rounded out the group of finalists.
McGonigle became the sixth Tigers player to be honored with the AL ROY award. Harvey Kuenn in 1953, Mark Fidrych in 1976, Lou Whitaker in 1978, Justin Verlander in 2006, and Michael Fullmer in 2016 were the others.
The Guardians wouldn’t have gotten a second PPI draft pick had Messick been elected as the winner, in addition to the one they already got for his Top 3 AL Cy Young finish.
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