Assessment of highly regarded Guardians prospect is very concerning

The 2024 season may have ended for the Cleveland Guardians, but the Arizona Fall League is well underway. This provides the organization with a potential glimpse of their future, and there is one player specifically mentioned in a recent roundup of Fall League action that would be of interest to Guardians fans.

The Athletic's Keith Law has been in Arizona publishing his observations, with his most recent entry mentioning Cleveland's Chase DeLauter.

He continues to hit when he plays, including a flyout to center at 110 mph off the bat in one of the games I saw, but I have to confess I can’t buy this swing. It’s not just that it’s unconventional, but that it seems to leave him vulnerable to pitches in, or down and in, or just generally down, as he’s geared to attack pitches up and is so strong that he can hit those pitches harder than a lot of hitters can.

No one has ever doubted DeLauter's power, but this assessment of his swing profile is far from ideal. Having this type of obvious flaw in his swing be identified at this time could be a sign of some massive struggles in his future. This is a massive part of the zone that DeLauter is having issues with, and it is incredibly difficult for anyone with this description to become an impact hitter in the majors.

What Law also said about DeLauter's success and the competition he has faced up to this point is also worth mentioning.

Maybe it’ll take major-league pitching to successfully exploit all of the weaknesses a swing like DeLauter’s presents, or maybe it’ll continue to work because DeLauter is so dang strong. He’s going to mash in the AFL, though, where there are very few pitchers who have the combination of stuff and command to attack him.

It certainly seems like Law is not necessarily a believer in DeLauter being able to handle major-league pitching. Obviously, the holes in his swing are an issue, and finding a way to address that is clearly needed, but essentially predicting his downfall against non-Fall League pitchers is what is happening here.

When it comes to evaluating prospects, few, if any, are better than Law. If Law is stating his concern about a player's viability at upper levels, people should notice and perhaps lower their expectations just a little. That way, if things play out in the way that Law believes they will, the aftershock of those events taking place will not feel as earth-shattering.