It doesn’t take long for devoted baseball fans to latch on to the latest trend involving their favorite team. That’s especially true when it’s attached to something that many of them have never seen before.
That is currently the case with the Cleveland Guardians and rookie phenom Chase DeLauter. In the first home game of his regular-season big league career, those fans already showed that Progressive Field could be a joyous place to be this season.
Last year, DeLauter became one of the few players in history to make his MLB debut in a postseason game. In those two AL Wild Card appearances, his walkup music into the batter’s box was “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” which is a nod to his West Virginia roots.
He has kept the sound the same, and DeLauter’s signature song is becoming a big hit in Cleveland, as the crowd has rejoined the sing-along, finishing the chorus in full voice once the music stops and the at-bat begins.
“Guardians fans already catching on to Chase DeLauter’s walk up song ‘Country Roads, Take Me Home.’ The West Virginia native follows the sing-a-long with a base hit,” Mason Horodyski wrote.
#Guardians fans already catching on to Chase DeLauter's walk up song "Country Roads, Take Me Home."
The West Virginia native follows the sing-a-long with a base hit#GuardsBall @WEWS pic.twitter.com/tO5dU7XU9Z
— Mason Horodyski (@MasonHorodyski) April 3, 2026
DeLauter responded in the best way possible during the home opener against the Chicago Cubs on Friday. He hit a game-tying RBI single in the fifth inning, and then hit his fifth home run of the season in the seventh inning to increase Cleveland’s lead on the way to a 4-1 victory.
Virtually every game he plays adds to a historic start that included two home runs on Opening Day against the Seattle Mariners, which were followed by one in each of the next two games. Heading into a nationally televised game Saturday against the Cubs, DeLauter was batting .346 with a 1.293 OPS.
As for the song, it was released in 1971 as sung by Bob Denver. It has been adopted as one of four anthems for West Virginia, and it is included in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
With Ohio and West Virginia sharing a border, it will be interesting to see how many fans from DeLauter’s home state start to make the pilgrimage to Progressive Field to get in on the festivities.
NEXT: Guardians Make Big Announcement About Longtime Announcer
