It didn’t take long for Chase DeLauter to announce his candidacy for the American Leagues Rookie of the Year award.
Playing in his first regular-season game after making his MLB debut in the 2025 playoffs, DeLauter went 3-for-5 with two solo home runs as the Cleveland Guardians defeated the host Seattle Mariners 6-4 in the season opener Thursday night.
The four-game series continues Friday night in Seattle.
“He’s excited to be a big-leaguer,” Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of DeLauter. “It’s been a journey for the organization to get him here and for him to work through a lot of adversity and trials to get here. There’s no expectations on him. It’s go play and be yourself. We’re excited to watch him for six months.”
A first-round draft pick in 2022, DeLauter’s path to the majors was slowed by a broken foot in 2024 and a broken hamate bone last season.
He hit .459 with three homers and 10 RBIs this spring — including a pair of tape-measure blasts in an exhibition game Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix.
“That guy is so good,” Guardians pitcher Slade Cecconi said earlier this week. “It’s insane.”
The Mariners learned that the hard way.
DeLauter went deep off Seattle starter Logan Gilbert with one out in the first inning on a towering shot that just cleared the fence in right-center field. He singled with two outs in the seventh to bring up Jose Ramirez for a tie-breaking, two-run double, and DeLauter belted a 422-foot blast to right-center leading off the ninth to provide an insurance run.
“Obviously, the kid can swing the bat,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “We’re going to have to figure out (how to pitch to him) as we go.”
Seattle’s Dominic Canzone, an Ohio native, also homered twice, and teammates Brendan Donovan and Luke Raley hit the ball out of the park as well.
The four solo shots accounted for all of the Mariners’ scoring.
“We just weren’t able to generate any consistent traffic to get guys on base for those home runs,” Wilson said.
Donovan, making his Mariners debut after being acquired from St. Louis in the offseason, became the first player in the franchise’s 50-year history to hit a leadoff homer on Opening Day.
Donovan added a check-swing double down the left-field line with two outs in the fifth inning, putting runners at second and third, but Cal Raleigh struck out to end the threat.
“This group isn’t going to quit,” Donovan said. “I think we showed that, and we’ll continue to show that. There’s going to be nights where the ball goes our way, and there’s gonna be nights where it doesn’t like tonight. But this group’s gonna show up tomorrow and prepare and be ready to go.”
Friday’s matchup is scheduled to feature a pair of right-handers in the Guardians’ Gavin Williams (12-5, 3.06 ERA in 2025) against the Mariners’ George Kirby (10-8, 4.21).
Williams is 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two career starts against Seattle; Kirby is 0-1 with a 5.11 ERA in five starts versus the Guardians.
–Field Level Media
