The case for these 3 Guardians to break franchise's Rookie of the Year curse

In 1990, Sandy Alomar Jr. authored a great season in his first year with Cleveland. 

While Alomar appeared in eight games with the Padres in the previous two seasons, he still maintained his rookie status ahead of his first season with Cleveland after being acquired as a part of the team’s return for Joe Carter. 

In total, Alomar posted a .290/.326/.418 slashline in 136 games in his rookie season to go along with nine home runs and 66 RBI while also becoming the third rookie to win a Gold Glove. 

While the Guardians have had plenty of players have strong rookie seasons in the 36 years since, none of them have earned a Rookie of the Year award. 

But now the Guardians have three rookies who have a chance to break that drought in the form of Chase Delauter, Parker Messick and Travis Bazzana. 

All three of those players have different skillsets that give them a unique case to win the award. 

Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter and Parker Messick have genuine Rookie of the Year cases 

DeLauter threw his hat in the ring first with an incredible opening week where he smashed five home runs in the first seven games of the season, and he’s been productive in the time since even if his homer rate has dipped. 

DeLauter currently boasts a .275/.362/.481 slashline and entered play on Tuesday with four RBI in his past two days.

His 30 RBI is the second-most among American League rookies behind White Sox phenom Munetaka Murakami, and his 12.4% walk rate is fourth. He also ranks among baseball’s best in strikeout and whiff rate, so it’s clear that his performance this year isn’t a fluke. 

While Messick made his debut last August, he didn’t reach enough innings to graduate from rookie status. And that could end up with him finishing the year with a Rookie of the Year award, as he’s arguably been the best rookie pitcher in all of baseball. 

Along with leading all rookie hurlers in innings (53 2/3), he also has the best ERA among rookies with 5+ starts (2.35) along with having the second-most strikeouts (58). 

Messick became a household name when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Orioles in April, and he’s allowed two runs or less in seven of his nine starts this season. 

His fastball averages just 93 miles per hour, but he has a strikeout rate of 28% along with a chase rate of 34%. He’s pitching like an ace, and has become a great anchor of the Guardians’ rotation alongside Gavin Williams. 

Bazzana presents the most interesting case of the three thanks to his late promotion. While he didn’t make his debut until April 28, he’s already been worth 0.6 fWAR while getting on base at a high clip. 

Bazzana entered play on Monday leading all qualified rookies with a .410 on-base percentage along with having gone 10-for-23 in his last five games. 

He obviously doesn’t have the season-long track record of rookies like DeLauter and Messick, but his strong ability to get on base should help him build a strong case for Rookie of the Year. 

While there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played, Messick, DeLauter and Bazzana have already started to build strong ROY cases. Those cases should only get stronger as the season goes on.

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