Cleveland Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter doesn’t expect to be sidelined long by his ankle injury.
DeLauter, the 16th overall pick of the 2022 MLB Amateur Draft, left Cleveland’s 4-1 loss to the host Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday after fouling a ball off his left ankle in the first inning.
DeLauter, who has undergone surgery twice on his left foot, said X-rays were negative.
“The X-rays came back clean, which is the best-case scenario, especially having some past surgeries to that side,” DeLauter said, per Cleveland.com. “So, the X-rays being negative was a huge win.
“So I think we’re just dealing with a nice bone bruise in that area.”
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said he scheduled DeLauter for a “planned day off” in the team’s finale of its three-game series versus the Dodgers on Wednesday.
“I think the plan is to try to get back in there by the home opener (on Friday versus the Chicago Cubs),” DeLauter said. “We’ve got an off-day Thursday. It will be nice to treat it and get back in there on Thursday.”
DeLauter, 24, etched his name in the history books, hitting a two-run homer in the 10th inning Saturday in a 6-5 victory against the host Seattle Mariners.
It gave him four homers over his first three career regular-season games, matching the MLB record set by Colorado’s Trevor Story in 2016.
Named the American League Player of the Week, DeLauter is batting .273 (6-for-22) with four homers and four RBIs in six games this season.
–Field Level Media
