Guardians star prospect out months after hernia surgery

One of the Cleveland Guardians’ top prospects will be sidelined for the coming months.

Chase DeLauter has undergone hernia surgery and will miss time to begin the season, per AP Sports. The 2022 first-round pick suffered a core injury in late February in practice and had the operation done on Monday in Philadelphia. DeLauter is currently the organization’s second-best prospect and was expected to begin the campaign in Triple-A Columbus.

Despite the setback, there’s still a high chance that he will make his MLB debut at some point in 2025. DeLauter’s timeline for a return is 8-12 weeks. Last year, he slashed .261 across three levels, spending most of the season in Double-A. DeLauter finished the year in Columbus, batting .304 with two long balls in 23 at-bats.

The former James Madison standout is an exciting player with a complete skill set. He hit over .400 in college and also led the Cape Cod in homers in 2021. After being lightly recruited out of high school, the Guardians youngster fully proved that he is the real deal before making the jump to the pro level.

Yes, his ’25 debut has been pushed back, but there’s still little doubt that DeLauter will make an impact at the big league level sooner rather than later. Cleveland’s roster looks quite different this season compared to last after a busy offseason that saw them part ways with several different players, including Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez.

But, they also managed to re-sign Shane Bieber and reunite with Carlos Santana, among others. Cleveland should certainly be in the mix for the AL Central title once again after losing in the ALCS last year to the New York Yankees. Perhaps DeLauter will get a taste of playoff baseball at some point. First, the focus will be to recover properly from surgery and that will be a process.