Guardians were smart to exercise caution with Chase DeLauter's spring training injury

There’s never a good time for a player to get injured during the MLB season. Get hurt at the start of the year and you miss a key portion of the season. Get hurt in the middle of the season and you run the risk of not being able to ramp up in time for the postseason. And get hurt at the end of the season and you pretty much ruin any chance of being able to come back in time for the postseason. 

But a spring training injury may be the worst of them all since it would interrupt any ramp up to the season while also bleeding over into April. 

Earlier this week Chase DeLauter and the Guardians set off alarm bells throughout Northeast Ohio by making the star young outfielder a late scratch from their spring training lineup due to lower body soreness. 

For any other player, the fanbase wouldn’t think much of such a precautionary measure since that kind of thing happens all the time as players work to ramp up and get into game shape. 

But any kind of injury regarding DeLauter is always going to become a big thing thanks to the rookie outfielder’s checkered injury history. But even if holding DeLauter out drew extra attention to his status, it was still the right thing to do 

Guardians were smart to not have Chase DeLauter push it through injury 

On Friday, DeLauter spoke to members of the Guardians’ beat, where he said that the scratch resonated from him “feeling a little tight in the legs,” and that he should be able to be back in the lineup next week. 

“Try to keep it a two-, three-day thing, not a six-week, two-month thing," DeLauter said. “It’s still February. There's no rush. I've got probably about 30 or 40 at-bats already under my belt, just between (live batting practice) and games already. So there's no rush there,” DeLauter said, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. 

Manager Stephen Vogt also added his insight, saying that DeLauter spoke up about being sore, and that he was happy that DeLauter said something instead of suffering silently and risking the injury becoming something more. 

“We want to make sure that he's feeling as close to his best every time he goes out there during Spring Training,” he said. 

Holding DeLauter out of games is a double-edged sword (even if it was the right move). 

On one hand, it allows for the DeLauter to stay healthy and not risk aggravating whatever was hampering him in the first place. But on the other hand, it serves as a reminder of how fragile he is, and also puts his Opening Day roster spot in jeopardy. 

The Guardians are going to give him every chance to make the team’s Opening Day roster, but there’s a reason the saying “you can’t make the club from the tub” exists. 

If DeLauter ends up missing enough time that he can’t break camp with the Guardians, George Valera, Petey Halpin and Stuart Fairchild are the likely options to take over some of the playing time freed up by the loss of him. 

But regardless of what happens, one thing is clear: The Guardians’ lineup is at its best when DeLauter is in it.