Guardians GM Delivers Thorough Health Update on Critical Player

Going into the 2025 MLB season, the Cleveland Guardians were expecting Chase DeLauter to compete for a starting job in the outfield, but a sports hernia he suffered in March put the kibosh on that.

DeLauter underwent surgery eight weeks ago, but the good news is that he had returned to the field for a rehab assignment this week, having been added to the Arizona Complex Roster.

But how much work will DeLauter need to do before he can potentially have a shot of cracking the big-league roster again?

Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff has provided an update on the top prospect, and it appears that Cleveland will understandably be treating DeLauter with kid gloves.

“We’re counting the number of swings that he takes, the number of high intensity runs he does, and then we’ll be very thoughtful in those ACL games on how much time he’s on his feet and how many swings he’s getting,” Chernoff said, via Joe Noga of Cleveland.com. “That way we can work him up to full games, back-to-back games and hopefully full progression at that point before he heads to an affiliate.”

The Guardians are currently employing a five-man contingent of Steven Kwan, Angel Martinez, Jhonkensy Noel, Nolan Jones and Lane Thomas in the outfield, although Thomas is currently on the injured list with a bruised wrist.

While Kwan has been terrific and Martinez is hitting .316, the platoon of Noel and Jones in right field has been nothing short of an abject disaster, so DeLauter may actually have a chance of earning some playing time if all goes well in his rehab assignment.

DeLauter slashed .261/.342/.500 with eight home runs and 24 RBI over 164 plate appearances of minor-league action last season. Baseball America had him ranked as the 48th-best prospect in the sport before the 2025 campaign began.

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