Said this about Chase DeLauter in Spring Training, “Saw his ESPN rank of 233rd overall and figured I needed to look at DeLauter. I don’t know what ESPN knows, but no one else I’ve talked to thinks he’s breaking camp. Earliest ETA is June, and a lot can happen between now and June. With that said, I don’t mind a flyer in your last round if you want to stash, but you’re going to get hit by injuries, and need to drop him by April 7th.” And that’s me quoting me! Dude, 233rd overall? What? Ha, okay, moving on. Wait, one more thing, I didn’t rank him in my top 500. Correctly! All right, now moving on! DeLauter appeared in the Itch’s way too early top 10 prospects for 2025 back in April. (Though, just out of the top 10.) Then going back, and Itch said this previously, “Had sort of an Daniel Espino feel on draft night when DeLauter fell to Cleveland. Wasn’t as crazy as the Espino thing to me because DeLauter was a college bat, and unlike the Espino draft, where pretty much the whole league had a crack at him and passed to let the draft’s most talented arm go to the team most ready to weaponize that talent, DeLauter went 16th overall. He offers a quick look at the downsides of separating studs from duds too young, as he wound up playing at James Madison University after going undrafted out of high school. Along the way, he grew into a 6’4” 235 lb center fielder with double-plus speed and power. For what it’s Wuertz, DeLauter has played 100 total games since 2020: three short seasons with JMU and one in the Cape Cod League, where he was good with the wooden bat: .298/.397/.589 with 21 walks and 18 strikeouts across 34 games (146 plate appearances). That small sample with the ash and maple is where I’m hanging this hat. Cleveland has made a concerted effort to minimize strikeouts. If they think DeLauter can keep doing it, I’m here to find out. And I want to beat up Grey so bad.” Not cool, let’s move on! So, what can we expect from Chase DeLauter for 2025 fantasy baseball?
Psyche! I’m gonna start sleepers next Monday and my rankings on Patreon. More like I’m psyched! I’m back from my vacation and ready to get baseball going again. Speaking of which, I’m wondering if we have interest in starting up a 2025 fantasy draft. If we do, I’m down like a clown. Let me know in the comments if you have interest. Anyway II, Chase DeLauter for 2025 fantasy baseball:
Chase DeLauter has a funny swing, let’s watch. Hey, a recent clip, woohoo:
Picking up where he left off.
The @Guardians‘ Chase DeLauter tallies his first RBI in the @MLBazFallLeague this year.
MLB’s No. 41 prospect drove in 27 runs in 23 AFL games in 2023. pic.twitter.com/uGg7EUYFaw
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) October 9, 2024
Not that long ago:
CHASE DELAUTER MOONSHOT!!! pic.twitter.com/aqcNeglEcp
— Zach (@PhenoMVP) August 16, 2024
Bit longer ago, but who cares about dates why am I focusing on that?
Chase DeLauter – Cleveland Guardians (1)* pic.twitter.com/DurhtZjoc9
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) February 27, 2024
So, he’s old. Not like dinosaur old, but Chase DeLauter is 23 and played less than 40 games last year in the minors. Double and Triple-A numbers are 7/1 and he hit .252 in Double-A with a 14.8 K% and 11 BB%. Clearly that’s with a low BABIP, because he’s either the worst Hard Contact Guy of All-Time or he makes terrible contact. Like a teamster, gonna lean on the latter. He’s also had terrible injury luck. Is it luck or does he have proclivity for injuries? By the way, you can’t say proclivity aloud without sounding like Dr. Evil. He battled hamstring and a fractured foot this year. Basically, a lost year. Oh, and the fractured foot was a foot he had surgery on twice before. I don’t know what’s up with his tootsies, but if they ever stage an adaption of My Left Foot, I have suggestion for the Daniel Day Lewis part.
So, what do we have left (foot? No, remaining, you dolt!) to discuss here? He has no speed, big power and could hit .300 and the Guards have a spot for him. He also hit the crap out of the ball in the AFL this year (108.1 MPH exit velocity). He just needs to stay on the field in Spring Training and not completely poop the duvet. My guess is he will continue to battle foot injuries his whole career (sadly). You don’t have two surgeries on the same foot, then just happen to fracture it again. Someone might need to go in and look at that thing. Preferably a doctor. And not a doctor from a Caribbean university like Steve Guttenberg in Bad Medicine. He kinda reminds me of what I thought Josh Naylor would be aside from the injuries (middle-of-order power bat). DeLauter needs to stay on the field and he will take off. For 2025 fantasy baseball, I’ll give Chase DeLauter projections of 47/14/53/.266 in 312 ABs with a chance for more (and much less since he’s never stayed on the field for longer than 60 games).
