The Guardians announced that outfield prospect Chase DeLauter underwent surgical procedure to handle a core muscle/sports activities hernia harm. As a part of the announcement, the membership relayed that comparable instances have required gamers about eight to 12 weeks to return to play.
DeLauter, 23, is likely one of the membership’s prime prospects. The sixteenth general choose from the 2022 draft, he has 406 minor league plate appearances beneath his belt to date, having hit .317/.387/.517 in these for a 147 wRC+.
He isn’t but on the membership’s 40-man roster however he got here into camp as a non-roster invite. That technically put him within the competitors for an Opening Day job, although that was all the time going to be a little bit of an extended shot. Whereas he’s had sturdy outcomes when it comes to high quality, accidents have stood in the best way of amount.
He was as soon as projected as a possible prime 10 choose within the draft however a foot harm prompted him to fall to sixteenth. Recurring foot accidents have held him again since then, with DeLauter entering into simply 57 minor league video games in 2023 and 39 video games in 2024.
Although his numbers have been good and he does have six Triple-A video games on his observe report already, the Guardians have been possible planning to have him get extra reps in a minor league surroundings to start out 2025. That plan will now should be delayed, as DeLauter ought to be on the shelf into Might or June.
On condition that accidents have already prevented him from constructing a notable workload, it’s lower than excellent that this season is beginning with yet one more setback. Although if DeLauter is ready to return in eight to 12 weeks, he would nonetheless have time to set a brand new profession excessive when it comes to video games performed in knowledgeable season.
As soon as he will get wholesome and into kind, there may very well be a path to large league taking part in time within the Cleveland outfield. Steven Kwan and Lane Thomas ought to have left and middle area spoken for, respectively, although Thomas is an impending free agent after 2025. Proper area, DeLauter’s possible future place, shall be dealt with by some mixture of Will Brennan, Jhonkensy Noel and Johnathan Rodriguez. Each Noel and Rodriguez simply debuted within the majors final 12 months. Brennan has a bit extra expertise however with subpar offense and questionable protection.
In the long term, the Guards are absolutely nonetheless hoping for DeLauter to take up a job in that outfield combine, although he’ll ideally present some prolonged well being sooner or later. For now, it’s yet one more roadblock. Even when he doesn’t push for a significant league debut through the 2025 season, he’ll must be added to the 40-man in December to be protected against the Rule 5 draft.
