The Guardians may have found the power hitter they\u2019ve been missing. Rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter is off to a historic start, with five home runs through the first two weeks of the season. But Ideastream Public Media\u2019s sports commentator Terry Pluto says DeLauter didn\u2019t take the usual path to get here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that’s so cool about Chase DeLauter is, unlike one of these guys who played at some big-time high school and then played at Ohio State or Arizona or one of the baseball factories, he’s from West Virginia,\u201d said Pluto said. \u201cAnd I think it really plays well in Ohio because his walk-up song is the John Denver “Take Me Home Country Roads”, about West Virginia.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLauter\u2019s path to the majors began in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He dominated at the high school level, but largely outside the spotlight that often follows elite prospects.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe never went to these big showcases that they have for high school kids\u2026he was kind of tucked away there in the hills,” Pluto said.<\/p>\n
Despite a .606 batting average and a 4.2 grade point average, DeLauter drew little recruiting interest. Only one school, James Madison, offered him a chance. He primarily was a pitcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was good enough, he got an invitation to the Cape Cod League,\u201d Pluto said. This is a big deal. He goes there and leads that league in home runs. I mean, this is like a mythical story almost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pluto said the Cape Cod League played with wooden instead of metal bats, which helped prepare him for the major leagues.<\/p>\n
Then came the first of several setbacks. Just before the 2022 MLB draft, DeLauter broke his foot. It cost him to slide from a projected top 10 pick to No. 16 overall, where Cleveland selected him anyway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey knew it was kind of a risk,\u201d Pluto said.<\/p>\n
The foot injury forced DeLauter to sit out his first season. Injuries continued to follow; Foot surgeries. A sports hernia. A broken hamate bone. But Pluto said DeLauter always came back strong.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen he would finally get healthy for a couple of months, he would just keep hitting,\u201d Pluto said.<\/p>\n
Now, after a strong spring and a fast start in the majors, DeLauter is showing why Cleveland remained patient.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line with him is, as long as the bones don’t break and the muscles don’t pull, Cleveland has a star,\u201d Pluto said.<\/p>\n
That early surge has prompted a bigger question: Is this just a hot start, or something more lasting?<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t know he was going to hit all these home runs,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cBut if this guy could just stay healthy\u2026and believe me, he’s trying everything he can to do so, it’s there. It’s no fluke.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLauter has quickly connected with fans, who sing \u201cTake Me Home, Country Roads\u201d during his at-bats.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think also his story is so endearing,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cHe was nobody’s phenom. He’s quietly relentless \u2026 in pursuit of excellence at the plate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pluto said the next challenge will be sustaining both performance and poise.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of interest and fame is going to come his way,\u201d Pluto said. \u201cSo, we’ll see how he handles all that. I believe he’ll do it well. I mean, this guy is a viable big-league player with a chance to be an All-Star.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Guardians may have found the power hitter they\u2019ve been missing. Rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter is off to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-593197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=593197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}