Guardians’ Chase DeLauter Deserves More Rookie of the Year Hype

Chase DeLauter became the early favorite to win American League Rookie of the Year during the Cleveland Guardians' first series of the season, when the 24-year-old smashed four home runs in three games against the Seattle Mariners.

As expected, the power and long balls have faded as the season has progressed. But for some reason, so has DeLauter’s recognition as a legitimate candidate to win Rookie of the Year.

In MLB.com’s latest poll for the award earlier this month, DeLauter’s name was nowhere in sight.

Instead, their list looked like this:

It’s difficult to directly compare the impact of a position player to a pitcher, so it’s hard to argue where DeLauter stands compared to Cleveland’s own Messick and Tolle.

However, looking at the position players on this list and their stats, it’s clear DeLauter more than deserves the top spot.

To start, DeLauter’s .296 average is on track to finish in the top five, not just compared to other rookies, but in all of the American League. He’s been one of the best players in baseball this season when it comes to getting the ball in play.

Okay, it’s fair to say that batting average is an outdated and misleading stat. However, all of the advanced metrics favor Cleveland’s rookie outfielder, too.

DeLauter’s .829 OPS isn’t just among the American League leaders among qualified rookies; it is the best among his first-year counterparts. Murakami is directly behind him with a .821 OPS, Peters has a .811 OPS, and McGonigle owns a .793 OPS.

The White Sox slugger obviously has the upper hand when it comes to home runs, but simply looking at each player’s ability to create runs via the long ball or putting the ball in play, they’re on par, and Cleveland’s rookie even has the upper hand.

Heading into the weekend, DeLauter’s 135 wRC+ is better than Murakami’s 128, McGonigle’s, and Peters’ 128.

Overall, DeLauter has been the better offensive player in the trio.

Even if a player’s overall numbers are better, sometimes voters value their ability and number of games played.

Even though DeLauter has missed a little bit of time with a few minor injuries, most recently a wrist sprain, he’s still played just as many games (121) and, in some cases, more than his fellow rookies.

None of this is to say that DeLauter should be the winner of the award because there are plenty of deserving candidates in a stacked 2026 rookie class.

But if the season ended today and he wasn’t at the very least considered a finalist, it would be quite the mystery when looking at the numbers.