{"id":524122,"date":"2026-01-16T21:30:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/524122\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T21:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:30:18","slug":"parker-messick-is-our-no-3-guardians-prospect-who-should-be-no-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/524122\/","title":{"rendered":"Parker Messick is our No. 3 Guardians prospect. Who should be No. 4?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The people (or person?) have spoken and Parker Messick is our No. 3 Guardians prospect. Messick won by about 20 votes, earning about 40% of the vote total. He moves up a whopping 10 spots from No. 13 last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Messick was Cleveland\u2019s second round draft pick in 2022, selected No. 54 overall out of Florida State. He made a name for himself by winning the pitcher vs. hitter battle against Chase DeLauter when their teams duked it out.<\/p>\n

He made his pro debut at Single-A Lynchburg in 2023, posting a 3.03 ERA and striking out 26% of opposing hitters with an elite 2.73 FIP over 13 starts. This earned him a midseason promotion to High-A Lake County, where he was a bit more hittable, but his strikeout rate actually climbed to 26.3% in 13 additional appearances spanning 65 innings while topping 10 K\/9 for the first time.<\/p>\n

Cleveland repeated Messick at High-A to begin 2024 and he improved in every facet as his strikeout rate to 28.2% with an excellent 3.38 FIP over 13 more starts and 68 innings. The biggest surprise was how the former Seminole performed when he was promoted to Double-A. Upon his arrival, everything started clicking. Messick\u2019s K\/9 jumped a full strikeout from 10.59 to 11.65 and opponents struggled to make consistent contact with a .190 batting average against. He also posted career-best 2.06 ERA with an elite 2.77 FIP.<\/p>\n

Last season, Messick began the year with a promotion to Triple-A, where he was good, but not great, posting a 3.47 ERA over 20 starts with a 29.1% strikeout rate. Late in the season, Cleveland gave him an opportunity and he took full advantage, pitching extremely well to the tune of a 2.72 ERA over seven starts with the Guardians, becoming an important staple of a six-man rotation that carried Cleveland to a stunning Central Division title. Most impressive was Messick\u2019s control, walking a miniscule 3.6% of batters he faced, a career low.<\/p>\n

Messick will have every opportunity to earn a spot in Cleveland\u2019s starting rotation to begin the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s time to determine who is number four in the Guardians\u2019 loaded farm system! Your options are below:<\/p>\n

Jaison Chourio, OF (Age 20)
2025 (CPX) 27 PA, .261\/.370\/.304, 0 HR, 1 SB, 14.8 BB%, 37.0 K%, 95 wRC+
2025 (A+): 353 PA, .235\/.380\/.284, 2 HR, 9 SB, 18.7 BB%, 21.8 K%, 103 wRC+<\/p>\n

Chourio was lining up to be Cleveland\u2019s top prospect after a sensational 2024, but he was slowed in 2025 by a nagging shoulder injury and had a very average season. He\u2019s looking to bounce back in 2026.<\/p>\n

Braylon Doughty, RHP (Age 20)
2025 (A): 22 GS, 85.1 IP, 3.48 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 27.3%, 6.4%, 1.25 WHIP<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s competitive balance first round pick in 2024, Doughty debuted in full-season ball and put up solid numbers in his age-19 season at Single-A, showcasing elite control.<\/p>\n

Angel Genao, SS (Age 21)
2025 (CPX) 32 PA, .308\/.438\/.654, 3 HR, 0 SB, 18.8 BB%, 12.5 K%, 177 wRC+
2025 (AA): 341 PA, .259\/.323\/.359, 2 HR, 6 SB, 8.5 BB%, 15.8 K%, 103 wRC+<\/p>\n

Had an average regular season in 2025 after missing the first two months with a shoulder sprain, which likely sapped his power after he came back in June.<\/p>\n

Cooper Ingle, C (Age 23)
2025 (AA) 403 PA, .273\/.391\/.443, 9 HR, 0 SB, 16.1 BB%, 17.4 K%, 148 wRC+
2025 (AAA) 107 PA, .207\/.383\/.329, 1 HR, 0 SB, 19.6 BB%, 16.7K%, 105 wRC+<\/p>\n

Ingle has shown excellent offensive tendencies for a catcher. Will his defense and power be enough to earn an opportunity in Cleveland this year?<\/p>\n

Jace LaViolette, OF (Age 22)
2025 (NCAA) 262 PA, .258\/.427\/.576, 18 HR, 7 SB, 21.8 BB%, 25.2K%, 120 wRC+<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s first round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, the 6-foot-6 LaViolette instantly becomes one of the top power hitting prospects in the system. Strikeouts and contact have been an issue, however.<\/p>\n

Khal Stephen, RHP (Age 23)
w\/ TOR 2025 (A) 7 GS, 39.1 IP, 2.06 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 31.4 K%, 4.6 BB%, 0.92 WHIP
w\/ TOR 2025 (A+): 9 GS, 48.1 IP, 1.49 ERA, 2.70 FIP, 26.6 K%, 5.4 BB%, 0.85 WHIP
w\/ TOR 2025 (AA): 1 GS, 4.0 IP, 6.35 ERA, 1.88 FIP, 11.1 K%, 5.6 BB%, 1.68 WHIP
2025 (AA): 4 GS, 11.1 IP, 9.00 ERA, 9.54 FIP, 21.9 K%, 3.9 BB%, 1.50 WHIP<\/p>\n

Acquired from Toronto in the Shane Bieber trade, Stephen rocketed through the minor league system in 2025 before hitting a wall in Double-A. He instantly became one of Cleveland\u2019s top pitching prospects.<\/p>\n

Ralphy Velazquez, 1B (Age 20)
2025 (A+) 418 PA, .245\/.323\/.469, 17 HR, 1 SB, 9.6 BB%, 20.3 K%, 120 wRC+
2025 (AA): 126 PA, .330\/.405\/.589, 5 HR, 0 SB, 9.5 BB%, 15.1 K%, 188 wRC+<\/p>\n

Was Cleveland\u2019s most impressive hitter in the minor leagues in the second half of 2025 after getting off to a slow start at Single-A. Dominated after being promoted to Double-A Akron.<\/p>\n

NOTE ON POLL: We have moved to Google Forms Surveys in an attempt to eliminate vote spammers. Please vote below. Voting will close at 10pm ET<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people (or person?) have spoken and Parker Messick is our No. 3 Guardians prospect. Messick won by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524123,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,38367,2565,538,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-524122","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians-prospects-minor-leagues","12":"tag-clevelandguardians","13":"tag-guardians","14":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115906912571690739","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}