The Cleveland Guardians open their Wild Card playoff series against the Detroit Tigers Tuesday morning as American League Central Division champions after they pulled off the greatest comeback in the history of Major League Baseball. Now, hours before first pitch of the MLB postseason, the Guardians have taken another extraordinary step.
The AL Central winners have added their No. 2 overall prospect, 23-year-old outfielder Chase DeLauter, to their postseason roster â even though the 2022 first-round draft pick has never appeared in an MLB game.
The move all but guarantees that DeLauter will make his big league debut in the most highly pressured of environments, the playoffs.
The 6-foot-3, 235-pound slugger was not in the starting lineup for the series opener against the Tigers, but that is understandable. The Tigers send Cy Young favorite Trail Skubal to the mound, and asking the lefty-swinging DeLauter to see his first big league at-bat against one of the most dominant left-handed pitchers in the game would certainly be a difficult assignment for the debutante.
DeLauter Not First to Debut in Postseason
The Guardians had an opening on their 40-man roster, meaning that they did not need to cut or demote another player to add DeLauter.
While there is some chance that the prospect will spend the entire Wild Card series on the bench, it seems unlikely that Cleveland would consume a valuable roster spot in an intense, best-of-three series with a player they did not intend to use. However, if he sets foot on the field, DeLauter would not be the first young player to make his MLB debut in the postseason.
In the expanded, 2020 COVID-year playoffs, the Minnesota Twins gave their 2016 first-round pick Alex Kirilloff his MLB debut in the postseason. In four at-bats, the then-22-year-old collected one hit in Game Two of a Wild Card series against the Houston Astros.
In 2015, the Kansas City Royals gave Adalberto MondesÃ, who was only 20 years old, his first big league at bat in the World Series. The youthful son of former big leaguer Raúl Mondesà came up as a pinch-hitter in the fifth inning of Game Three against the New York Mets, but struck out against Mets hurler Noah Syndergaard.
Injury Prevented Debut in Regular Season
DeLauter was the 16th overall draft pick in 2022, signed for a $3.75 million bonus by the Guardians, but due to a broken foot suffered while playing college ball for James Madison University â and a reinjury to foot after the draft â was unable to make his professional debut until 2023.
DeLauter was the first James Madison player ever to be taken in the first round of the MLB draft.
In three minor league seasons, the top prospect posted an .888 OPS with 10 home runs and a batting average of .302 across 138 games. He was injured again this season, a broken bone in his hand this time, which prevented him from making his big league debut during the regular season.
The Guardians were 15 1/2 games behind the Tigers on July 9, and as late as September 4 sat 11 back in the AL Central. But a 20-7 September while the Tigers slumped to 7-17 for the month led to the comeback â breaking a record set by the Boston Braves in 1914.
The Boston National League team rebounded from a 15-game deficit to win the NL pennant in an era when there were no divisions or playoffs, and the teams that finished in first place in each league went straight to the World Series.
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