Parker Messick News: Strong effort Monday

Messick allowed two hits and one walk while striking out four over 4.2 scoreless innings in Monday's spring start against the Royals.

Messick was dominant in his third Cactus League outing (two starts), upping his pitch count to 66 (41 strikes) in a bid to earn a spot in the Guardians' rotation. The left-hander lowered his spring ERA to 1.93 over 9.1 innings. Cleveland's received good work from all its starters over the last week, and the decision will be tough one for manager Stephen Vogt. Messick has three minor-league options, which could work against him in the competition with Joey Cantillo (no options) and Logan Allen (one) for the final two spots in the rotation.