'Very few people' like Messick, who's shining one year after debut

This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEVELAND -- It’s almost hard to believe, Parker Messick says, how quickly one year has gone by. The past 12 months have been a blast.

Messick made his MLB debut on Aug. 20 last season. The 25-year-old lefty will commemorate one calendar year as a big leaguer on Wednesday, when he is set to start against the Giants at Progressive Field at 6:40 p.m. ET.

“It’s been the most fun I've ever had,” Messick said. “It's been more than what I anticipated it to be. I’ve just been super blessed with how everything's been going and just having fun.”

It’s hard to imagine things going much better. Messick has been one of the best starting pitchers in baseball since he reached The Show last year.

“There are very few people like Parker Messick,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said. “That's what I've learned.”

In 182 innings over 31 career starts, Messick has a 2.62 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP and 180 strikeouts with 46 walks. Entering Monday, only six pitchers (minimum 25 starts) had a lower ERA over the past year: Cam Schlittler (2.21), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.28), Chris Sale (2.29), Jacob Misiorowski (2.32), Cristopher Sánchez (2.56) and Tarik Skubal (2.59).

Messick made a good impression last year (2.72 ERA in seven starts) as part of the six-man rotation that guided Cleveland’s historic comeback to win the AL Central title. But he was learning how to navigate the big leagues on the fly, and has naturally felt more prepared this year. His season bears that out.

Messick earned his first All-Star nod last month, and he should be in the mix for the AL Rookie of the Year Award and AL Cy Young Award this fall. He has a 2.59 ERA (seventh among qualified starters, entering Monday), a 1.03 WHIP and 142 strikeouts with 40 walks in 142 1/3 innings over 24 starts this season.

“We don't see very many pitchers who come up and are as determined to work as hard and are driven to get better and better each time,” Vogt said. “He wants to earn his next start. That's how he pitches. He pitches to earn the next one and to earn the next inning.

“He wants to get better and better. He's never satisfied. You don't always see that with a young player. But Parker's maturity, he pitches like a veteran and he wants to keep getting better. It's been fun to watch.”

Messick said he felt fortunate to be part of the 2025 Guardians. As Cleveland looks to stay in the postseason race this year, he’s a crucial figure pitching above his experience level.

“This year, every game that I pitch I'm trying to win for the sake of the team,” Messick said. “It's just a blessing to have more experience now and knowing what we can do at the late portion of the year from last year, being able to implement that into this year's run.”

Messick has already set a new career high in innings pitched, but he has shown no signs of slowing down. He said he feels "phenomenal" physically and noted he’s been throwing harder lately than he has all season. That’s saying something; Messick’s average four-seam fastball velocity (94.2 mph) has already been well above where it was in 2025 (92.8 mph).

Messick’s fastball averaged 94.6 mph across his first three starts in August. It averaged 92.8 mph in six starts across March and April and has continued to rise. His previous single-month high this season was 94.1 mph, over four starts in July.

“Parker works relentlessly hard to maintain his level of performance,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “That goes back to the work that he puts in in the offseason to set the foundation, and then how he shows up at the ballpark each day. Thankfully he continues to show up strong and still physically ready to go."

Messick hasn’t gotten this far by resting on what he has achieved. He has continued to take things one day, one start, one inning and one pitch at a time.

That mature mindset has guided him all season, as he has continued to grow in front of our eyes.

“When you start thinking too far ahead, then things start to unravel when you're not ready for it to,” Messick said. “If you're living on the past starts, then you're not going to be ready for what's ahead of you. So it's just one start at a time and keep going."