The Guardians may not have a Cy Young winner on the books since Shane Bieber’s COVID-shortened 2020 season, but they’ve got two arms that could change that conversation soon.
Gavin Williams and Parker Messick both showed enough in 2025 to make Cleveland look stocked with legitimate top-end pitching talent, and each has a path to the sport’s biggest individual prize by 2027.
Williams is the name that jumps out first. A 3.76 ERA doesn’t usually scream Cy Young, but his impact goes well beyond that number. He piled up 248 strikeouts, tops in the American League, and finished just four behind MLB leader Jacob Misiorowski, who had 252.
Then came October, where Williams raised the level again. He helped carry the Guardians to the AL Championship Series with a 2.16 ERA and 33 strikeouts across 16.2 innings. In Cleveland’s biggest games, he was the staff ace and the pitcher the team wanted when it needed a lineup silenced.
His track record also suggests there’s more room for a true breakout. Williams posted a 3.29 ERA in 16 starts as a rookie in 2023, then improved to 3.06 last year over 167.2 innings. If he pairs that kind of run prevention with the kind of strikeout volume he just delivered, he’ll be right in the Cy Young mix.
Messick made an even stronger regular-season case. The left-hander entered spring training as a rotation hopeful and steadily worked his way into a frontline role, showing he could handle lineups week after week.
He finished with a 2.56 ERA and 193 strikeouts, putting himself on the radar as both an AL Rookie of the Year and AL Cy Young candidate. He remains a long shot for the latter, and his chances at the former may hinge on how voters view Detroit Tigers’ Kevin McGonigle, but his 2025 season was strong enough to earn real attention.
Messick wasn’t always dependable in October, but the regular season was enough to establish him as a pitcher with award-level upside. If he puts the whole package together next year, he could go from candidate to winner.
For the Guardians, the encouraging part is simple: these two weren’t found by accident. Cleveland drafted and developed both Williams and Messick, and that homegrown foundation gives the club a real shot at having Cy Young hardware in the near future.
In Other News...
Guardians Just Lost Another Behind The Scenes Voice Rivals Keep Poaching
The Guardians are losing another one of the behind-the-scenes people who helped shape their offensive program, as Conner Watson is headed to Houston to become the Astros director of hitting. Watson spent the past two seasons as Clevelands assistant director of hitting development, and his move is the latest reminder that the organizations player development work keeps getting noticed well beyond Progressive Field.
Chris Antonetti has already acknowledged the staff turnover, and in some ways that comes with the territory for a club whose development pipeline is routinely viewed as a strength. Still, it is the kind of loss that matters, because these roles influence how hitters are identified, coached and pushed forward before they ever become everyday names in Cleveland. The Guardians have built a reputation other teams want to borrow from, but keeping the people who built it together is proving to be a challenge. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Regret Letting These Prospects Slip Away
Clevelands farm system has already produced enough intriguing names to keep tabs on, and a few former Guardians prospects are beginning to look like more than background pieces in other organizations. Juan Brito, Jacob Cozart and Josh Hartle all moved on in separate trades, and each has taken a step that suggests the move may end up benefiting their new clubs as much as it cost Cleveland. Brito landed with the Reds and flashed promise in a limited look, while Cozarts strong Double-A showing for the Angels has put him on a path toward a possible big league debut.
Hartle may be the most interesting of the three because of the role he could eventually fill for Washington. He has been effective at Double-A and looks the part of a pitcher the Nationals can build around in the near future, which only adds to the sense that Cleveland may have parted with more upside than it realized. None of these deals is decided today, but by 2027 the Guardians could be looking at three former prospects becoming useful major leaguers somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]
Two Guardians Enter 2027 With Everything To Prove
The Guardians got deep enough in 2026 to reach the AL Championship Series, but the loss to Tampa Bay left a few familiar questions hanging over the roster heading into the winter. Two of the names carrying the most scrutiny are Tanner Bibee and Kyle Manzardo, both of whom found themselves in very different places by the end of the season than they were when the year began.
Bibee led Cleveland in innings during the regular season, yet he was used sparingly once October arrived, a reminder that the club is still sorting out how to trust its top arms in the biggest moments. Manzardos path is murkier still after his offense dipped from 2025 to 2026, a slide that helped prompt a trade acquisition and put his hold on the first-base job in question as the offseason takes shape. [Read more 🡒]