The Guardians introduced that outfield prospect Chase DeLauter underwent surgical procedure to deal with a core muscle/sports activities hernia harm this morning. 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 without doubt one of the membership’s high prospects. The sixteenth total choose from the 2022 draft, he has 406 minor league plate appearances below 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 invitee. 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 a protracted shot. Whereas he’s had sturdy outcomes when it comes to high quality, accidents have stood in the way in which of amount.
He was as soon as projected as a possible high ten choose within the draft however a foot harm created some concern and induced him to fall to sixteenth. Recurring foot accidents have held him again since then, with DeLauter moving 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 monitor document already, the Guardians have been probably planning to have him get extra reps in a minor league surroundings to begin 2025. That plan will now need to be delayed, as DeLauter ought to be on the shelf into Could or June.
On condition that accidents have already prevented him from constructing a notable workload, it’s lower than ultimate 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 type, there might be a path to massive league taking part in time within the Cleveland outfield. Steven Kwan and Lane Thomas ought to have left and heart area spoken for, respectively, although Thomas is an impending free agent after 2025. Proper area, DeLauter’s probably future place, will likely be dealt with by some mixture of Will Brennan, Jhonkensy Noel and Johnathan RodrÃguez. Each Noel and RodrÃguez simply debuted within the majors final yr. 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 in some unspecified time in the future. For now, it’s yet one more roadblock however hopefully one he can overcome in a couple of weeks/months. Even when he doesn’t push for a significant league debut through the 2025 season, he’ll should be added to the 40-man in December to be shielded from the Rule 5 draft.
