Guardians considering intriguing prospect for potential playoff roster spot

On Monday, the Cleveland Guardians began their path to the World Series with a workout day at Progressive Field ahead of the start of Tuesday’s Wild Card Series against the Detroit Tigers. 

While that workout featured all of the roster mainstays who helped the Guardians during their postseason push, it also, according to various reports, featured prospect Chase DeLauter, who seems to have a legitimate shot at making his major league debut at some point during the postseason. 

Chase DeLauter is a part of the Guardians’ postseason taxi squad

It’s not hard to imagine how DeLauter could help the Guardians in the postseason. He’s slugged 20 home runs in 138 minor league games since being drafted by Cleveland in the first round of the 2022 draft. 

But, even with that power, DeLauter’s struggled with injuries throughout his career, which has been the biggest roadblock he’s run into during his ascent through the minor leagues.

DeLauter was trending toward making his major league debut earlier this season before he suffered a right hamate fracture in July that’s kept him on the shelf since. 

The Guardians already announced that DeLauter is going to play in the Arizona Fall League this year for the third fall in a row, but his presence at the Guardians’ workout seems to mean that he's healthy and could make his big league debut before then.

At the very least, he’s going to be able to be in a big league clubhouse for the extent of the Guardians’ postseason run, which should provide him with some invaluable experience. 

It also provides some insight into how the Guardians view DeLauter internally. He already seemed to have an outside shot at breaking camp with the team this year, and this decision just confirms that. 

DeLauter’s not on Cleveland’s 40-man roster, but that would be an easy addition since they have an open spot. He’d also be an easy fit on the 26-man roster, as he could fill into the backup outfielder role currently filled by Johnathan Rodríguez and Petey Halpin.

If DeLauter does make the roster, he’d become the first player to make his major league debut in the postseason since Ryan Weathers, Shane McClanahan and Alex Kirilloff made their big league debuts in the 2020 postseason. 

While the left-handed hitting DeLauter probably wouldn’t get the start in the first game of the series since the Guardians are going against the southpaw Tarik Skubal, he could be a valuable bench bat a la Kerry Carpenter last year for the TIgers. 

Additionally, the Guardians also had catcher Dom Nuñez at their workout to provide some additional catching depth. Nuñez spent all season on the 40-man roster, and briefly filled in on the major league roster for a week when Austin Hedges went on the concussion list. Nuñez went 2-for-7 at the plate in his brief action with the Guardians. 

The Guardians have until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning to submit their roster ahead of the 1:08 p.m. first pitch against the Tigers. 

The Guardians also announced that Gavin Williams will get the start in Game 1 against Skubal.