The Guardians are floundering and it’s time to cling to one of the few potential arks of salvation within their reach and have Chase DeLauter set sail from Columbus to Cleveland.
First, let’s establish something about DeLauter - since returning from a turf toe incident, he has a 152 wRC+ with an 11.3/8.8 K/BB% and a .310 ISO. Memorably, while hitting with the A-team for the Guardians in Spring Training, he put up a 320 wRC+, following his posting a .914 OPS in the Arizona Fall League last autumn. Not only do these surface numbers look great but he’s also got a swinging strike rate around 6% and pulled-hit/fly-ball numbers of 45.