The Cleveland Guardians have hit their first skid of the 2026 season of late, dropping five of the past six games including four in a row to fall below .500. The Guardians have scored just 13 runs in those five losses as the offense has struggled to generate any sort of consistency or power.
Top prospect Travis Bazzana was called up this week to hopefully provide a much-needed spark, but in the meantime, the pitching staff is pulling its weight. It has become a familiar story for this franchise, and one pitcher in particular has gone above and beyond to deliver an incredible first month of the season.
David Schoenfield of ESPN recently highlighted his early-season All-Stars and pointed out the strongest and weakest performers of the young season. Unsurprisingly, he gave a nod to young lefty Parker Messick, who is making an early case to not only be an All-Star, but also in the mix for Cy Young consideration.
“The rookie left-hander impressed in a seven-start stint at the end of 2025 and is 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA through his first six outings of 2026. He’s fun to watch because he doesn’t blow batters away with a big fastball, instead relying on a six-pitch mix, throwing each at least 10% of the time. The changeup is his big swing-and-miss pitch. Score another one for the Cleveland pitching development program,” Schoenfield wrote.
Messick’s consistency was one of the most impressive parts of his late-season call up last year, and that has carried over into 2026. He hasn’t had a bad start yet and the Guardians are 5-1 in games he starts compared to 10-15 in all other games.
He, Gavin Williams, and Joey Cantillo are rounding into quite the young trio of starters for manager Stephen Vogt. Tanner Bibee is showing signs of life as well to make this one of the deepest rotations in the American League.
It was nice to see Schoenfield give a nod to Cleveland’s pitching development program, which has worked wonders with this entire rotation. Messick’s next foe will be a tough battle at the Athletics on Sunday, and we’ll see if he can keep things rolling and continue on the All-Star path he is on.
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