Chase DeLauter’s star turn has been lone positive from Guardians horrible run of play

The Guardians’ 6-4 loss to the Tigers on Tuesday featured a lot of the same things that have plagued them over the last three weeks, ranging from pitching issues to not being able to get a big hit with runners in scoring position. 

But one of the lone bright spots from that rough performance was rookie Chase DeLauter, who went 3-for-5 out of the No. 2 spot in the lineup while mashing his 13th home run of the season. 

While DeLauter’s home run gave him the “honor” of leading the Guardians with just 13 home runs, his strong showing is even more confirmation he’s becoming the kind of the slugger the Guardians always expected him to be. 

Chase DeLauter has been the lone Guardians hitter playing well

DeLauter set himself for an unsustainable level of production when he opened the season with four home runs over his first three games, but he’s done a great job adjusting to MLB pitching as the season has gone on. 

After posting just a .647 OPS in 13 games in June before hitting the injured list, DeLauter’s been on a tear since returning and now has a .308/.401/.513 slashline with six home runs and 18 RBI across his last 30 games (since July 4).

The only problem is that he hasn’t got much help from the rest of the hitters in the Guardians lineup, as DeLauter and Steven Kwan are the only two hitters to be worth more than 1.0 fWAR over that time frame. 

While new faces Angel Genao, Nathaniel Lowe and Angel Genao have all impressed since joining the Guardians, it's been the familiar faces who have let them down.  

José Ramírez has hit just .214 without an extra-base hit in that same 30 game span, while Rhys Hoskins has an on-base percentage of .259. Heck, even Brayan Rocchio (one of the best stories of the first half) has recorded an on-base percentage of .246. 

DeLauter being the best hitter in the Guardians' lineup is an obvious double-edged sword. On one hand, it seems like he’s turning into the kind of power-hitting outfielder the Guardians have desperately needed for years. 

But it’s coming at a time when he is the Guardians’ offense as opposed to being a complementary piece around Ramírez.

But there’s only so much DeLauter can do when the Guardians are struggling  with runners in scoring position.

The Guardians entered Tuesday’s game hitting just .219 with runners in scoring position over their last 17 games, and they followed that up by going 0-for-9 with RISP on Tuesday. They’re getting runners on base, they just lose their ability to hit as soon as a runner reaches second base. 

“At the end of the day, to me, it's the same thing as nobody on, as far as taking the same swing,” DeLauter said after the game. 

While may be the case for him, it doesn’t seem to be the case for the rest of his teammates. 

The one silver lining from Tuesday is that every team that they’re chasing in the Wild Card lost (minus the Tigers, of course). But they’re going to need to start winning eventually. DeLauter’s done his part; now it just comes down to the rest of Cleveland’s lineup. 

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