entered the week with an opportunity to bring home a pair of marquee awards. In the first of his two races, he came up just shy.

Messick landed in second place in American League Rookie of the Year Award voting, finishing behind Tigers infielder Kevin McGonigle. Messick received two first-place votes, 25 second-place votes, two third-place votes and one fourth-place vote, finishing with 122 points to McGonigle’s 204. He’ll have to wait until Wednesday to see if his fortunes fare differently in the AL Cy Young Award race.

Messick made 32 starts, tossed 186 1/3 innings (seventh in MLB) and recorded a 2.56 ERA (sixth among qualified starters). He logged 193 strikeouts and 6.3 wins above replacement (per Baseball Reference), which ranked second among AL rookies behind McGonigle (7.1). For comparison, Tolle had a 2.9 bWAR over 26 starts.

Messick was both one of the game’s best rookies in 2026 and one of its top starters. But what he did carried great weight in the history books, too.

Among rookie pitchers in Cleveland franchise history, only Vean Gregg (9.1 in 1911) had a higher bWAR than Messick, and only Herb Score had more strikeouts (245 in 1955). Messick also became the fourth rookie starter in MLB history (minimum 150 innings pitched) to record a 2.60 ERA or below and a 9.0-plus K/9 rate, following Dwight Gooden (1984), Hideo Nomo (‘95) and José Fernández (2013).

Manager Stephen Vogt noted that even on the Spring Training backfields, Messick operated as if he was pitching in the AL Championship Series. That demeanor came to define his 2026 campaign, as the lefty routinely gave Cleveland a chance to win through a competitiveness beyond his years.