The Guardians are carrying top outfield prospect Chase DeLauter on their Wild Card series roster against the Tigers, the team announced. Zack Meisel of The Athletic first reported yesterday that the Guardians were considering that possibility. Guardians Prospective reported overnight that DeLauter would indeed be on the roster. Cleveland already had an opening on the 40-man roster, so they didn’t need to make another move to select the former first-rounder’s contract.
If he gets into a game, it’ll be the 23-year-old’s first MLB action. It’s rare but not entirely unheard of for top prospects to get a postseason roster spot before making their regular season major league debut. The Twins went that route with Alex Kirilloff in 2020, while the Royals had Adalberto Mondesi make his first appearance during the 2015 World Series. DeLauter is not in the starting lineup for this afternoon’s Game 1. Cleveland is going with Steven Kwan, Angel Martínez and Johnathan Rodriguez in the outfield against Tarik Skubal.
It’s certainly feasible that DeLauter finds his way into a game, of course, be it in the later innings this afternoon or tomorrow, when Detroit sends righty Jack Flaherty or Casey Mize to the mound. The lefty-swinging DeLauter is on the bench at least in part due to the presence of a southpaw on the mound. DeLauter posted much better numbers versus lefies than righties in a small sample during an injury-shortened 2025 season, but he’s historically been better against righties. Beyond that, left-handed batters have slashed a putrid .214/.235/.269 against Skubal in 2025.
DeLauter, the Guardians’ first round pick out of James Madison University in 2022, opened the season on the shelf after undergoing sports hernia surgery and was sidelined for two months later in the season after suffering a hamate fracture when he was hit by a pitch. That pair of health troubles limited him to just 42 games and 177 plate appearances, but the touted young outfielder lived up to his reputation when on the field, slashing .278/.383/.476 in Triple-A. DeLauter is a career .302/.384/.504 hitter in the minors since being selected 16th overall in 2022.
While DeLauter won’t gain any big league service time for days spent on the postseason roster, his ascension to the 40-man roster and the fact that the organization is entrusting him with a spot on the playoff roster is a clear sign that he’ll be in the mix for an Opening Day roster spot next year
Kwan is locked in as Cleveland’s left fielder, but other two outfield spots are far less certain. DeLauter has more than 300 professional innings in center and over 600 innings in right field. He’ll be an option in either spot, depending on other moves the front office makes over the winter. The Guardians can control DeLauter through at least the 2031 season, and assuming he breaks camp with the club in ’26, he can gain the Guardians a future draft pick depending on award voting during his pre-arbitration seasons.
That’s a matter for another day, though. For the time being, the focus for DeLauter and the organization will be on advancing as deep into the playoffs as possible. Cleveland just wrapped up one of the most stunning late-season comebacks in modern baseball history, erasing a 9.5-game deficit over the final two and a half weeks of the season, usurping the Tigers as division champions in the American League Central.
Getting your big league call up for the playoffs is pretty cool, good luck young man!
Who did he replace?
They’re carrying 15 position players and 11 pitchers. They dropped Allen and Messick when they went from 28 to 26 because they weren’t going to start in a three-game series. I guess that means DeLauter’s swapping in for Zak Kent for the final spot.
Makes sense. Need all the bats Vogt can get.
SPs Allen and Messick are inactive this series, so probably one of them. They’re going with 15 position players and 11 pitchers.
Welcome to the MLB! Take a bat and go face the reigning AL Cy Young winner who is having another fantastic season.
Yeah, he probably won’t get in to see Skubal but it’s a funny thing to think about
He bats left, I doubt he’s in the lineup tonight.
I was initially going to say “why isn’t he starting today if you’re going this route?” but yeah, not forcing a lefty-swinging kid to make his MLB debut in the first game of the playoffs against Tarik GD Skubal is prrrrobably the way to go lol.
I do see from his BBREF page that he is a fellow Maryland boy. Very cool. Give ’em hell, kid!
Pretty awesome first game in the dugout. I have no skin in this series, but how cool would it be if he got a big late-inning hit?
I wouldn’t mind if the Cardinals controlled Delauter through 2031. That was a fast catch on the typo. It was fixed before I could even finish the comment.
I am a little surprised they didn’t carry Dom Nunez as an emergency catcher. Not that he would have played but that would just allow the team to be more aggressive in using pinch hitters/runners for Naylor/Hedges.
Glad DeLauter made it though. He and Halpin have some great tools that could be a factor.
If only the cubs and dodgers could switch, we’d have 4 true division wildcard rounds
Can someone explain how he’s eligible for the postseason roster since he wasn’t on the 40-man or 60-day DL as of 9/1? Is this a “loophole” of the MLB taxi squad 2020 COVID rule changes since he doesn’t accumulate any service time?
“The Guardians have an open 40-man roster spot, and they can add DeLauter because he was in the organization when the calendar flipped to September. He simply has to replace another roster candidate who is injured and has fulfilled the minimum stay on the injured list, such as Lane Thomas or Nolan Jones.” – The Athletics
Less than an hour after the announcement that Chase DeLauter is being called up and you’re speculating on the Guardians getting a draft pick when he eventually signs with someone else???? Do you mind if he gets his first at-bat first before you make that speculation??????
I think you are misunderstanding what they are saying. They are talking about PPI picks, not compensatory picks. Easy mistake to make
Perhaps he should get off his own lawn. He may have been in the sun too long.
It would be pretty amusing if DeLauter helps the Guardians win a WS, earn a WS MVP, collect his playoff shares, and retire from baseball without accruing a single day of MLB service time. Well probably not that amusing for most fans.
Really love this sort of thing.
Mondesi only had 1 AB in the playoffs in 2015 (and no regular season experience as the article mentioned), he struck out, and got a WS ring