The Cleveland Guardians utilized plenty of prospects in 2025.

And one player who stood out as an outstanding addition to the major league roster was starting pitcher Parker Messick.

Heading into the upcoming 2026 campaign, many questions have begun to arise on whether or not Messick deserves to be in the majors, though. After all, he is just 25 years old, and the starting rotation already seems to have five guys lined up.

But there’s a convincing argument that he’s not far behind both Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee, two players competing for the ace job heading into the new season. The Guardians front office should consider not hindering his momentum by holding him down in the minors and instead should give him the keys to continue thriving.

Cleveland pitcher Parker Messick gets a standing ovation in Arizona after a dominant outing in his first game 👀 pic.twitter.com/YtlO2JNacu

— js9innings (@js9inningsmedia) August 20, 2025Why Messick is so Promising

The left-handed pitcher started seven games towards the back-half of the 2025 campaign, looking quite comfortable on the mound. Across nearly 40 innings, he held a 2.72 ERA with a 1.38 WHIP, striking out 38 batters in the process.

While the strikeout numbers don’t jump off the board, neither does his WHIP; a few of his other advanced numbers do. He generated an elite 3.6% walk rate and a 29.8% hard-hit rate, holding batters from getting on base too easily or snagging extra bases.

In his first game as a Guardian, he showcased all of those characteristics.

On the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he pitched through 6.2 innings, allowing seven hits, only one of which went for an extra base, while striking out six. He gave up just one run as well, setting up the Guardians to sneak away with a win. However, an unfortunate bullpen collapse led to a 3-2 loss, spoiling Messick’s debut.

He then went the seven innings in the next game, giving up no runs and striking out six batters while allowing only four hits. Through two games, his ERA was a measly 0.66. That span of games played also put him in historic company, as he was the second pitcher in MLB history to start their career with consecutive outings of six or more strikeouts, one or zero runs allowed, and one or zero walks allowed.

For a pitcher who was also making his major league debut amid one of the most incredible comebacks in league history, he showed that he was ready for just about anything.

Were there a few slip-ups as the year concluded? Yes, but that’s bound to happen to anyone who’s still trying to adjust to the big leagues. Some have used those struggles to justify why he deserves to start the year down in Triple-A, but if anything, that would just hinder his development.

Messick has spent the entire offseason getting further adjusted to the major league game and becoming more confident as a pitcher. At the age of 25, he’s entering his prime, a point in time that’s going to be critical for his career trajectory.

With spring training slowly approaching, the expectation is that he’ll compete for the No. 5 job in the rotation with both Slade Cecconi and Joey Cantillo, but there’s another option the coaching staff could consider.

At the end of last season, they ran a six-man rotation, using each of Bibee, Williams, Logan Allen, Cantillo, Cecconi and Messick. This gave their arms more time to rest, while also forcing opposing teams to never really know what they would be getting on the mound.

Cleveland’s young, so using a six-man rotation in 2026, at least until one guy starts to fizzle himself out of the equation, could be a realistic option. There are some downsides to this approach, but if the front office believes in each of them, they should give it a shot.

Either way, it would be disheartening to see Messick be the one to get the boot after how well he played last season.

The first chance to see Messick throw in 2026 will be at spring training, where the Guardians will first take on the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday, Feb. 21, with first pitch set for 3:05 p.m.