How the Guardians Can Promote Chase DeLauter

The drumbeat continues

If the Guardians want to insert themselves seriously into the playoff conversation for 2025 and beyond, they owe it to themselves to bring Chase DeLauter on to the major league roster as soon as possible.

The Guardians’ offense remains in the bottom third of the league, and they continue to struggle to get consistent production from their outfield. Conveniently, they have a top prospect playing outfield finally healthy (knock on wood, knock on wood) and hitting well in Triple-A in Chase DeLauter. The next move seems clear...

First, let’s talk about the current roster (13 hitters, given numbers as they first appear):
Catcher - (1) Bo Naylor and (2) Austin Hedges
First Base - (3) Carlos Santana and (4) Kyle Manzardo
Designated Hitter - Kyle Manzardo and (5) David Fry
Second Base - (6) Daniel Schneemann and (7) Angel Martinez
Third Base - (8) Jose Ramirez
Shortstop - (9) Gabriel Arias
Left Field - (10) Steven Kwan
Center Field - (11) Lane Thomas and (12) Nolan Jones and Angel Martinez
Right Field - Nolan Jones and (13) Johnathan Rodriguez

There really isn’t a way to get DeLauter on the major league roster without sacrificing the roster spot of an outfielder. Martinez is capable of playing infield, so he needs to stay until potentially the team decides to give Brayan Rocchio another shot, potentially in the utility infield role.

So, the Guardians will be forced to replace right-handed bat Johnathan Rodrigeuz with a left-handed one in DeLauter. RIP Stephen “I Don’t Believe in Platoons” Vogt’s plan to platoon his way to the playoffs 6-7 lineup spots daily. But, their current schedule of playing DeLauter only around four games a week works nicely to ensure that players like Jones and Thomas are getting at-bats. Assuming that the Guardians see around two left-handed starting pitchers and four right-handed starting pitchers in a week, a schedule can look something like this:

Lineup 1 vs. RHP: 1. Kwan LF, 2. Manzardo DH, 3. Jose 3B, 4. Santana 1B, 5. DeLauter RF, 6. Schneemann 2B, 7. Jones CF, 8. Bo C, 9. Arias SS
Lineup 2 vs. RHP: 1. Kwan LF, 2. Manzardo 1B, 3. Jose 3B, 4. Santana DH, 5. DeLauter RF, 6. Schneemann SS, 7. Thomas CF, 8. Bo C, 9. Martinez 2B
Lineup 3 vs. LHP: 1. Kwan LF, 2. Fry DH, 3. Jose 3B, 4. Thomas RF, 5. Santana 1B, 6. Martinez 2B, 7. Arias SS, 8. Jones CF, 9. Hedges C
Lineup 4 vs. RHP: 1. Kwan LF, 2. Manzardo DH, 3. Jose 3B, 4. Santana 1B, 5. DeLauter RF, 6. Schneemann 2B, 7. Thomas CF, 8. Bo C, 9. Arias SS
Lineup 5 vs. RHP: 1. Kwan LF, 2. DeLauter RF, 3. Jose DH, 4. Manzardo 1B, 5. Jones RF, 6. Schneemann 2B, 7. Thomas CF, 8. Bo C, 9. Arias SS
Lineup 6 vs. LHP: 1. Kwan LF, 2. Fry DH, 3. Jose 3B, 4. Thomas RF, 5. Santana 1B, 6. Martinez 2B, 7. Arias SS, 8. Hedges C, 9. Jones CF

DeLauter has a 49% hard-hit rate, an average exit velocity of 91.3 mph, only a 7.9% swinging strike rate, a 13.5/17.6 K/BB%, and a 125 wRC+ in Columbus. he has a .316 wOBA on changeups, a .392 wOBA on breaking balls, and a .363 wOBA against all kinds of fastballs, and a .376 wOBA overall. The Guardians are led in wOBA by Jose Ramirez at .388, Steven Kwan at .342, Daniel Schneemann .339, Carlos Santana .314, and Kyle Manzardo at .314. Nolan Jones, notably, is lagging behind his xwOBA of .338 at .288 wOBA. DeLauter’s projected major league 102 wRC+ (aggregated from all FanGraphs’ projection systems) would be fifth on the Guardians.

Look what DeLauter can do, everybody. Look why he currently has a 1.2 OPS vs. LHP this season:

It would be silly to expect Chase DeLauter to save the Guardians’ offense; he will struggle at some points as all MLB rookies do. But, the team should be clear of Super 2 concerns as of today, DeLauter continues to show he is able to handle the challenges of Triple-A pitching and deserves to be tested against major league pitching, and he has looked very good defensively. The space on the roster is also easily created by demoting Rodriguez and placing Will Brennan on the 60-day IL for his elbow surgery. And most importantly, Cleveland is 26th in MLB in fWAR from players whose primary position is right-field since 2019. Let’s see if the best right field prospect they’ve had since maybe Manny Ramirez(?) can help start to turn that around.

It’s time to test DeLauter’s ability to adjust to major league competition and to remain healthy in Cleveland when the team returns home to face the Blue Jays on Tuesday, June 24th.