Back in the mid-2000s, an entire generation of Cleveland Guardians fans grew up watching outfielder Grady Sizemore do amazing things on a baseball field.
For four years from 2005 to 2008, he was basically Jose Ramirez in the outfield, hitting homers, stealing bases, and playing amazing defense. Injuries, however, were a common theme and eventually caught up to him.
They ended up derailing what looked like a Hall of Fame career early on. It happens in every sport. Sizemore was MLB’s equivalent of Brandon Roy in the NBA and Bob Sanders in the NFL.
Some fans are worried that Chase DeLauter, the talented but injury-prone Guardians outfielder, might follow a similar path.
“Somebody brought up Grady Sizemore as a comparison [for Chase DeLauter],” Guardians insider Paul Hoynes said in the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “Grady never took a short step, and eventually he kind of crashed and burned with so many injuries.”
This is not a direct comparison between the players. Sizemore did incredible things at the plate and on the field, and DeLauter just played his first MLB regular-season game on Thursday. And he homered, by the way. These are two injury-prone players sharing a big, burning passion for the game, but also fragile bodies.
One of them knows the impact that playing hurt can have on one’s career. The other one, DeLauter, has already suffered multiple ailments and could see his playing time be heavily monitored to avoid a similar fate.
“There are going to be times during the regular season when they are not going to be able to put their best team on the field simply because they need to monitor DeLauter’s workload, his playing time, his innings to keep him healthy,” Hoynes said.
Asking DeLauter, who has suffered a foot fracture and undergone sports hernia and hamate bone surgeries already in his young career, to play 150 games this year would be unfair and irresponsible. The Guardians, therefore, can’t be blamed for closely monitoring his workload.
As Hoynes and co-host Joe Noga said in the podcast, there will probably be times when DeLauter is healthy, and manager Stephen Vogt refrains from putting him in for a tough pinch-hit at-bat or as a pinch-runner. The team needs to actively prevent putting him in risky situations. They cannot wait for him to get hurt if they can do something to avoid it.
DeLauter has some serious upside, but Cleveland should be mindful of his injury history and take care of him.
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