Guardians’ Parker Messick on Pace for Historic Rookie Year
Parker Messick has been historically dominant for the Cleveland Guardians in his rookie season.
Video Transcript
It's amazing to think back to opening day and think about how Parker Messick really didn't have a guaranteed spot on the Cleveland Guardians roster heading into opening day.
He forced his way onto the big league roster with how he pitched, and since then he's done nothing but continue to impress.
And at this point, he's on pace for an incredible and historic rookie season with the Guardians.
On Tuesday or Monday night, Messick ended up pitching six innings, allowed just three hits, gave up one earned run, and issued one walk with four strikeouts against the Los Angeles Angels, bringing his season ERA down to two point five zero, and his season WHIP down to one point one zero.
And when you think about how Messick took the league by storm last September, it's been almost a full calendar year since then, and he's only continued to get better.
And with that historic pace that he's on, Just Baseball put up a very interesting stat that Messick, right now, if he continues the pace that he's on, would join or become just the fourth pitcher in MLB history to pitch in their rookie season in a minimum of 150 innings and an ERA below two point seven zero, with more than nine strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
And one of the other names on that list is the late Jos Fernndez, who really in his rookie season was incredible as we know based on that stat, but also was a sensation in his own right.
So Messick is in that company right now, which just goes to show how incredible he's been and probably deserves a little bit more recognition for how he's pitched this season.
Something that I really thought was interesting that stood out w-- after that game against the Angels, Austin Hedges said one of the most impressive parts about Messick's rookie season this far has been how he's be able-- able to adapt to each of the lineups and opponents he's been playing, and that there's a lot of pitchers out there who just kind of ride and die with their stuff, and if they, that stuff gets hit, it gets hit, and if they end up getting outs with it, they get outs with it.
But Hedges said that Messick's been able to adapt and really change his arsenal for the opponent that he's been going after.
That's a skill that a lot of veterans hope they can get to throughout their career.
Messick's doing it in his rookie season.
And on the flip side of that, Messick said that he's just r- very convinced and very happy with whatever Hedges calls for him.
So this is a pairing pitching, catching combo that definitely is firing on all cylinders right now.
Of course, there's still a lot of season left to go, but if Messick continues this pace he's on, he should be in that Rookie of the Year conversation and it's gonna be a historic rookie year for him as well.
