Chase DeLauter was slated to head to next week’s Opening Day in the Arizona Fall League. As it turns out, he has another destination in mind first.
The 16th overall pick in the 2022 Draft, DeLauter hit .278/.383/.476 with five homers and a 23/22 K/BB in 34 games with Triple-A Columbus this season. He was limited by multiple injury issues this season — first core muscle surgery for a sports hernia in March and later another procedure to fix a right hamate fracture in July — or else he may have made that MLB debut earlier than September/October.
Injuries — including multiple fractures in his left foot, a sprained right toe and a right hamstring strain — have been a constant throughout his young career as he’s yet to play more than 57 games in a regular Minor League campaign.
That lack of athletic health has made him a difficult prospect to evaluate and rank within a Top 100, because when healthy, he’s one of the toolsier prospects in the game.
Batting from the left side, DeLauter has unorthodox mechanics with his swing in which he’ll swing out his back leg upon contact, like a scissor kick. He certainly makes it work, though, thanks in part to an impressive mix of swing decisions and hard contact.
With Columbus, he swung on only 16.9 percent of pitches outside the zone, leading to that impressive K/BB ratio. He also ran a 51.9 percent hard-hit rate (i.e. percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or above), good for 18th-best among 503 Triple-A hitters to see at least 500 pitches at the level in 2025. He posted a solid 107 90th-percentile max exit velocity and topped out at 110.1 mph while showing solid contact rates against all pitch types.
That combination of hit and power tools could be very useful for a Cleveland team that, despite its historic surge to an AL Central title late in 2025, has been light on bats all season. Guardians hitters ranked second-to-last in the Majors with a collective .373 slugging percentage this season, and their 87 wRC+ placed 27th. The numbers are just as rough for Cleveland right fielders, who have collectively hit .202/.270/.335 with 13 homers and a 70 wRC+ in 591 plate appearances this season.
An average runner who hasn’t been a stolen-base threat because of the foot issues, DeLauter has split his time between the outfield corners in 2025 and has some center-field experience from previous seasons. He best fits in right because of his plus arm strength dating back to his days when he would throw in the low-90s as a pitcher at James Madison.
Health has been absolutely paramount to the No. 2 Guardians prospect’s MLB chances to this point. He has it now, and the Guardians — out of the hope to keep this magical run going — have decided he’s one of the 26 best talents in the organization.
Mr. DeLauter is ready for his close-up.
