Eighteen years is a long time to wait for anything. In baseball terms, it is an eternity.
The last time a Cleveland outfielder hit more than 25 home runs in a season, George W. Bush was in the White House, the iPhone had just been released, and Grady Sizemore was in the prime of one of the most electric careers this franchise has ever seen. That was 2008. What followed was nearly two decades of outfield combinations that produced contact, defense, and speed, but never the kind of middle-of-the-order power that changes an entire lineup.
Bleacher Report’s Luke Rymer looked at one defining takeaway from every team in baseball through the early weeks of 2026 and identified something about the Guardians that Cleveland fans have been waiting a very long time to read.
“They Finally Have a Powerful Outfielder. The Guardians haven’t had an outfielder top 25 home runs in a season since Grady Sizemore in 2008. Now that the Giants finally have a 30-homer hitter again, it might be the most notable home run drought in MLB. Finally, Chase DeLauter might just be the guy for Cleveland. Even if he’s only homered once since then, he went deep four times in the Guardians’ first three games in Seattle,” Rymer wrote.
Four home runs in the first three games of the season. DeLauter walked into T-Mobile Park in Seattle to open 2026 and immediately announced himself as something different, something this franchise has not had in a very long time.
He has homered just once since that Seattle series as the league has begun to make adjustments and DeLauter has worked through the natural rhythm of a 162-game season. That is not unusual for a 24-year-old still finding his footing at the big league level, and nobody who watched those first three games in Seattle should be abandoning their excitement based on a slow stretch in April.
DeLauter is a left-handed bat with legitimate power. When pitchers make mistakes in his zone, the ball travels. That is not a skill set that comes and goes with the calendar.
The Guardians have not had that weapon since Sizemore was terrorizing American League pitchers in 2008.
The expectation that he will immediately become a 30-home run outfielder in his first full season is probably premature.
But the talent is real and the early production is impossible to ignore.
NEXT: Guardians Veteran Has Alarming Stats Since 2025
