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!
He was the West Virginia Gatorade player of the year in HS. Must not have been in MD long.
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.
Nunez is on the taxi squad. They’re not likely to activate him unless one of the catchers gets hurt.
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
I believe the Jays used this to get Trey Yesavage on their playoff roster. He was in the same position as Delauter, although he did at least get a few games in the regular season prior to the playoffs.
As I understand it, the current rule is that teams can add players to their 40 man roster as long as the player was in the organization at noon on 9/1 as a replacement for a player who has already spent the minimum time on the IL (1, 15, or 60 days) by petitioning the commissioner. Those petitions are routinely granted. mlb.com/glossary/transactions/postseason-roster-ru…
Years ago, things were stricter. If I am remembering correctly, teams submitted postseason rosters on 8/31. Only injured players from that roster could be replaced. So, teams loaded up their submitted rosters with guys who were out for the season so they’d have postseason roster flexibility.. The current rule replaced that dance.
Ahhh…thank you for the clarification! You can petition the Commissioner is the missing piece. Re: your last paragraph, yes, you are spot on. Who else here is old enough to remember the Fred Lynn controversy from 1988?
The 9/1 rule is basically meaningless.
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.
Then he would obviously open up car dealerships in the Cleveland area and ride that glory until he dies (while hoping the team doesn’t win a WS in that time to dilute his fame). The opposite of the Dame Lilliard approach to Portland.
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
So, a prospect who has never played a big league game is getting a call up in the post season to face good pitching? I know outside of Skubul, the Tigers pitching has become suspect, but the post season has some pretty good pitching, so I don’t get why you would do this.
Take a look at the Cleveland lineup. Outside of J-Ram and Manzardo, no one else is even a league average hitter.
Many of the Guards position players wouldn’t even be good enough to make the bench on some playoff teams
You forgot kwan. But thanks for playing !
No I didn’t.
Kwan’s a below average hitter this year.
96 OPS+, 99 wRC+
Okay, yes statistically he is SLIGHTLY below average. But when you play a series against Cleveland, you appreciate Kwan’s value.
He’s a table-setter on offense. He gets on base, steals bases, runs the bases very well. Once he reaches first, it’s a given he’ll get to 2B. He’s very fast. Ramirez almost always knocks him in. They put tremendous pressure on the pitcher/catcher.
Defensively, Kwan catches everything. EVERYTHING. His arm is pretty strong and very accurate.
As a Tiger fan, I would welcome Kwan on our team with open arms. (Ramirez too, obviously.)
He batting around.280 goof !
The Guards were 28th in runs scored in MLB with a total -6 runs differential for the season. They need his offensive potential.
I get it! But I would worry more about the downside if he flops. It’s not as if Cleveland is going to go the distance, here. The only reason they made it where they ae is because the Tigers fell apart.
Well the move was presumably made to help them possibly go the distance.
So. The twins had a negative run in 1987 season and won the 1987 world series goof !
@Chrome 8550 The point still stands.
Ah! The hopeful dreamer. The desperate always list a rare stat to prove their point. Face it, the 87 Twins and the 01 Dbacks are an anomaly. Cleveland is throwing a Hail Mary here.
Does anybody know why Jiminy Christmas is playing first base for crying out loud????
Because he bats right handed and is a first baseman.
Lefty on the mound. One of vogt great lineups wih righthand do nothing sticks !
If DeLauter hadn’t had injuries this season he probably would have been promoted to big leagues in June or July this season. He had hernia surgery early in the season and they were getting him up to speed in the minors after that. During that time, in late June, he got hit by a pitch on the hand and had surgery.
My bad, just observing from afar. The games I have seen this season against my team had Manzardo at first and Christmas was either in the minors or in right field. Never seen him at first. He looked very uncomfortable at first base.
Whatever happened to having to be on the roster before September 1st?
I asked the same question earlier. I understand he’s replacing an injured player but what happened to the 9/1 rule? Does being placed on the taxi squad supersede that? Note he’s now the 4th player since 2020 to debut in the playoffs which is when the taxi rule changes were implemented….
They changed it. Now you just have to be in the org before 9/1.
Excited to see a JMU alum in the playoffs !
Delauter is on 26 roster today. Reported by zack miesel.
Vogt lost Tuesday’s game with his playing Rodriguez in right field and Noel at first. To hell with defense, he says. Both committed errors that led to a pair of Detroit runs. Final score 2-1. Noel couldn’t hit one of Skubal’s pitches if he used an ironing board, so why was in there? For his defense?Rodriguez proved earlier he’s a semi butcher in right field and it paid off (for Detroit) today. This is not spring training. It’s the playoffs. Get your best players on the field.
.
Couldn’t agree more. Can’t phathom why Noel wasn’t in right and Manzardo at first. Rodriguez is a butcher in right and Noel was serviceable in right. It’s one thing to lose but to lose with silly mistakes by players who are out of position is maddening
After Rodriguez K’d to end the 6th I really thought Kayfus would enter the game at 1B to open the 7th which would move Noel to RF. The bigger fire I thought Vogt was playing with was a second Rodriguez error especially as Angel had issues with the glare. Kayfus is a much better 1B too and Kayfus has had virtually even splits between lhp and rhp in both years in the minors. .608 ops in 21 MLB PAs vs lhp so he’s not THAT bad.
I hope Vogt has the opportunity to correct this issue vs the tough lefties Boston and NY has.
Had to paltoon today vs skubal. With that lineup on tuesday vogt propably eying san francisco giants open manager job.
I agree. Before the game I sent a text to my sister, a big fan but not to the extent she’s thinking about every platoon angle, and said what the heck are we doing weakening two positions? Put J Rod at DH, Noel in RF and Manzardo at 1B. The announcers kept talking about Noel’s 7 or 8 MLB starts so he was obviously out of practice. Plus there was a lot of glare, you could see Angel fighting it all day. For 1B Noel has better reflexes than Manzo but it’s a toss up who is better overall. Based on experience I’d go Manzardo. Noel’s an okay RF or he was last year anyway. Poor thinking.
I love Vogt but this reminds me of Tito getting silly and starting Gio Urshela at 3B vs the Yankees in 2017. Ouch!
Tiger hitters turning yet another opposing pitcher into Cy Young.
Don’t look now, but Javy Baez is the Tigers’ most dangerous hitter.
And Parker Meadows is still their least dangerous.
Gee, great Tigers/Cleveland coverage.