Chase DeLauter's inside-out game-winning swing has Guardians fans' hype reaching apex

During the first week of the 2026 season, Chase DeLauter swung his way into the baseball zeitgeist thanks to five majestic home runs. 

And while that hot start has been followed by a cold stretch that's brought him back down to earth, he recorded a game-breaking triple on Wednesday that could jump-start another hot streak for the rookie hitter. 

After growing his legend thanks to a variety of no-doubt swings, his heroics on Tuesday night came on a ball that had plenty of doubt. With the bases loaded in the eighth inning, he lined a fastball from Astros reliever Bryan King into the left field corner. 

Although King left his fastball over the middle of the plate, DeLauter was clearly looking for something else.

So, instead of squaring the pitch up, he hacked at it with his short, violent swing. Usually, that kind of contact results in a foul ball or harmless grounder to the right side. But DeLauter was able to muscle the pitch into the left-field corner. 

While the ball only had an expected batting average of .210, left fielder Brice Matthews was playing back and closer to center field and was unable to get to the ball before it hit the ground.

By the time the dust settled, all three Guardians runners had scored and DeLauter was standing at third with his first career big league triple that helped push the Guardians to an 8-5 win. 

It may not have been pretty, but it got the job done.

Chase DeLauter’s unique swing helped the Guardians on Wednesday 

Even though DeLauter’s short “caveman” swing isn’t pretty, it’s clear that it works. That said, he had previously been mired in a slump that naturally led to some doubt. 

DeLauter entered that at-bat in the midst of a 1-for-26 streak, and he also fouled off two hittable pitches prior to hitting his aforementioned triple. 

Slumps happen all the time in baseball, so the fact that he cooled off after his hot start wasn’t much of a surprise. 

That said it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that his struggles corresponded with the Guardians hitting a bit of a wall. 

While José Ramírez has finally started to heat up and Brayan Rocchio has become an RBI machine, the Guardians are still at a point where they need contributions from everyone up and down the lineup. 

Simply put, a productive DeLauter changes the tenor of the Guardians’ lineup, since him being on base means that Ramírez will get even more chances to do damage. In years prior, teams have been able to work around Ramírez since he didn’t have the necessary protection in front of and behind him. 

But Tuesday’s game was the perfect example of how that’s different this season, as DeLauter had a productive day in front of him and Kyle Manzardo had a two-hit day behind him that was punctuated by a two-run single in the eighth. 

While DeLauter’s hot start helped him generate plenty of hype, Tuesday’s big swing sent it into overdrive.

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