Guardians' DeLauter placed on 10-day IL (rib)
James Schiano reflects on Cleveland Guardians' Chase DeLauter being placed on 10-day IL with a fractured rib, including DeLauter's "laundry list" of injuries in the past.
Video Transcript
In just a horrible bout of timing for the Cleveland Guardians, rookie outfielder Chase DeLauter has been placed on the injured list with a fractured rib.
That injury occurred in their game on Saturday when DeLauter crashed into the right field fence trying to make a catch on a Gleyber Torres fly ball.
And in that same game, Jos Ramrez broke his hamate bone, and ngel Martnez fractured his foot.
There were a handful of games, including the one on Saturday, when DeLauter, Martnez, and Ramrez were the top three hitters in the Guardians lineup, and now all three of them will be out for the foreseeable future.
For DeLauter specifically, it's been a very strange season.
After smacking four home runs during a sensational opening weekend, he has just three total long balls since, and his most recent one was over a month ago on May 17th.
Yet, he still has maintained a respectable two fifty-seven batting average and three thirty-six on-base percentage since that amazing opening weekend, contributing with his great hit tool and his great plate discipline, but without finding any power whatsoever following that weekend.
Sadly, this is just another installment in a laundry list of injuries for DeLauter during his baseball career.
After being drafted in 2022, he had not played more than 57 games in any single professional season.
So this season, the 66 games he's already played so far is actually a new career-high mark for DeLauter, which I guess is a silver lining for something.
But without him and a chunk of their lineup out, the Guardians have promoted Khalil Watson, a former first-round pick and top prospect from the minor leagues.
He's a decent power-speed threat, but has some swing-and-miss concerns that he showed off in the upper minors.
Also, utility man Daniel Schneeman has now wedged himself into an everyday role, but there's a lot of playing time to be won and lost among this first-place Guardians lineup over the next few weeks.
