Parker Messick

Messick started his career as a reliever with Florida State, but in 2021 made a successful transition to a starting role, where he posted a 3.10 ERA over 90 innings, with 126 strikeouts (32.7 K%) and 23 walks (6.0 BB%). Listed at 6-foot, 225 pounds, Messick has a short and stocky build, and he finds success by hiding the ball well in his delivery and spotting up consistently with a solid, if unspectacular, four-pitch mix. Messick has always missed more bats than scouts expected given his pure stuff. He sits in the 90-92 mph range with his fastball, and will get up to 95 at best, but the pitch gets whiffs at the top of the zone thanks to a lower release height. His best pitch is a low-80s, tumbling changeup that he used 32% of the time this spring and generated whiffs at a 52% clip. Messick also throws a slider around 80 mph and will occasionally mix in a slower, mid-70s curveball. There’s effort to his operation, but Messick has a long track record of throwing strikes and some view him as one of the better command pitchers in the college class.