Guardians Top Prospect Suffers New Injury

Originally posted on Cleveland Guardians on SI | Last updated May 29, 2024 10:04 PM ET

Chase DeLauter is viewed by many to be the Cleveland Guardians' top prospect and it’s easy to see why when watching him play. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America have him at the top of their rankings and expect him to be a big part of Cleveland's future.

However, DeLauter keeps facing setbacks in his journey to the big leagues.

His latest setback came in Tuesday night’s game for the Akron RubberDucks (Double-A) as it was confirmed he suffered a toe sprain in his right foot. The injury occurred after DeLauter was running in the outfield and collided with the wall.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt didn’t seem too concerned with the injury, but DeLauter is still considered day-to-day and is not in Akron’s lineup on Wednesday ( per Mandy Bell of MLB.com).

This new injury is significant because this was DeLauter’s first game back after missing over a month with a fractured left foot (the opposite foot from the toe sprain he just suffered.) The broken foot from earlier in the year is also the same foot he fractured while in college that ultimately required surgery to repair.

Photo Credit: MLB Images

DeLauter has only appeared in 17 games for the RubberDucks this season. He has a slashline of .194/.301/.290 with an OPS of .591 in those appearances. He did put together an impressive spring training which gave fans a glimpse of what he'll eventually look like in a Guardians uniform.

Hopefully, this injury is nothing more than something that keeps him sidelined for a few days. DeLauter was Cleveland’s first-round pick in the 2022 draft and he’s the future of the team.

This article first appeared on Cleveland Guardians on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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