As JMU baseball alumnus Chase DeLauter \u2014 now an everyday starter for the Cleveland Guardians \u2014 watched his 422-foot homer sail over the right field wall in Seattle, the rookie cemented himself in the history books by becoming one of just seven players in MLB history to hit multiple home runs in his regular season debut.<\/p>\n
DeLauter started his career with Cleveland when the Guardians selected him 16th overall back in 2022, becoming JMU baseball\u2019s first player ever drafted in the first round of the MLB draft \u2014 a milestone he had been chasing since he started playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I was a little kid, I believed I was good enough,\u201d DeLauter said.<\/p>\n
DeLauter\u2019s MLB career didn\u2019t begin with his two-homer game in Seattle, though. The Guardians made DeLauter the sixth player ever to debut in the majors during the postseason, adding him to their postseason roster ahead of the 2025 wild-card series against the Detroit Tigers.<\/p>\n
While the move may have been surprising to those around MLB, for those who knew him best \u2014 including his former skipper \u2014 it seemed inevitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew he was going to produce,\u201d JMU head coach Marlin Ikenberry said. \u201cHe\u2019s produced everywhere he\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLauter started games two and three of that series, impressing with an outfield assist in game two and his first big league knock in game three. While the Guardians lost the series, the future certainly looked bright for the former Duke.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a pretty special moment,\u201d DeLauter said. \u201c[Getting] to go out there and win playoff games was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
He carried that momentum into the regular season, ending his first week atop MLB\u2019s home run leaderboard with five through just eight games.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things I was kind of shocked at is how fast he started,\u201d Ikenberry said.<\/p>\n
Despite the start, DeLauter maintained a level of cool that he has carried with him throughout his career thus far.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the game\u2019s going on, there\u2019s not a whole lot of in-awe moments of what\u2019s going on,\u201d DeLauter said. \u201cIt kind of just becomes another day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loud home runs and eye-popping numbers weren\u2019t always DeLauter\u2019s calling card \u2014 JMU originally recruited him as a pitcher. But after watching him play at Hedgesville High School in West Virginia, Ikenberry quickly saw something different in DeLauter\u2019s swing, even comparing the sound off his bat to that of former New York Met and seven-time All-Star David Wright.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis hands and eyes worked, and the ball just jumped off his bat,\u201d Ikenberry said. \u201cIt just had a different sound.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon after, DeLauter\u2019s potential became clear to more than just JMU\u2019s staff. He earned Gatorade Player of the Year in West Virginia after a senior season marked by eight home runs, a .606 batting average and a 0.84 ERA on the mound. \u00a0<\/p>\n
After arriving in Harrisonburg, DeLauter earned Freshman All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, producing a .382 batting average with 26 hits and 14 RBIs before the season was canceled due to COVID-19. Those numbers propelled DeLauter\u2019s future at the plate instead of the mound.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a solid [freshman] year and kind of drifted away from being a starting pitcher,\u201d DeLauter said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when I figured, if [the majors] happen, it\u2019s gonna be hitting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building on his freshman campaign, DeLauter improved during year two. He hit six home runs with an impressive 1.231 on-base percentage plus slugging percentage (OPS) in 26 games.<\/p>\n
DeLauter carried his redshirt freshman season success over into the summer, becoming the first Duke to win the Robert A. McNeese Outstanding Pro Prospect Award, given to the top MLB prospect in the Cape Cod Baseball League.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The quick career start was unique, and Ikenberry quickly noticed DeLauter was unlike any player he had coached.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see [him] every day, you\u2019re like, this guy\u2019s got a chance to be special,\u201d Ikenberry said. \u201cI knew he\u2019d be in the big leagues one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
DeLauter\u2019s continued success had scouts taking notice. Heading into his redshirt sophomore year, DeLauter was listed in the top ten throughout multiple MLB draft rankings, including lists from draft analysts Jim Callis<\/a> and Jonathan Mayo<\/a>.<\/p>\n Before the 2022 season, incoming freshman and current director of player development Ryan Dooley noticed little things that allowed DeLauter to stand out.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s certainly easy to look up to a guy like that,\u201d Dooley said. \u201cHe did everything the right way, and he knew exactly what needed to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n DeLauter\u2019s off-the-field preparation led to another dominant season. He excelled with a .437 average and eight home runs in just 24 games. While his record-breaking year was cut short after suffering a broken foot in April, DeLauter\u2019s efforts impressed teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did some things I still have never seen anybody else do,\u201d Dooley said.<\/p>\n Still, after Cleveland selected DeLauter in the first round, his path to the majors was met with challenges. After re-injuring his broken foot, he had no choice but to get surgery \u2014 delaying his professional debut until June 2023.<\/p>\n In 2024, after being promoted to Triple-A Columbus, DeLauter missed playing time first due to his lingering foot injury, because of a combined turf toe and hamstring issue.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, DeLauter\u2019s 2025 followed a similar pattern of adversity. He underwent surgery to repair a core muscle and missed a chunk of the season. After returning for 42 games, he suffered a right hamate fracture in July, forcing another surgery.<\/p>\n When healthy, however, DeLauter shined, slashing .302\/.384\/.504 in 138 minor league games. His injury history has given DeLauter a fresh perspective on how to enjoy each chance he gets on the field.<\/p>\n \u201c[I\u2019m] just trying to enjoy each and every day,\u201d DeLauter said. \u201cBe where my feet are, and just be grateful to be back out there when I get the chance.\u201d<\/p>\n After his scorching opening in the show, DeLauter has cooled briefly, but still boasts an OPS of .811 \u2014 good for 54th in all of baseball.<\/p>\n The JMU alum will look to continue transferring his success from Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park throughout his career in the majors, powered by his unrelenting work ethic and love of the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cHe loves the game, he loves to play,\u201d said Ikenberry. \u201cHe works really, really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As JMU baseball alumnus Chase DeLauter \u2014 now an everyday starter for the Cleveland Guardians \u2014 watched his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,116031,5258,67138,197007,302966,5882,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-625321","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-chase-delauter","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians","12":"tag-home-run","13":"tag-jmu","14":"tag-jmu-baseball","15":"tag-major-league-baseball","16":"tag-mlb","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625321","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=625321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}