Cleveland Guardians Rookie Makes MLB History In First 3 Career Games
Baseball is a sport built on failure. If you fail seven times out of ten at the plate, you are going to the Hall of Fame. It’s a game that routinely humbles the greatest athletes on the planet. But apparently, nobody bothered to explain the rules of baseball mortality to Cleveland Guardians Outfielder Chase DeLauter.
Right now, the 24-year-old rookie isn’t just playing baseball; he’s playing MLB The Show on beginner mode. In a staggering display of raw power and unshakeable poise, DeLauter has set the baseball world on fire, proving that some players are simply built for the bright lights.
DeLauter’s Historic Start Stuns MLB
Let’s set the scene. It’s March 28, 2026. The Guardians are locked in a tense, extra-innings battle with the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. The atmosphere is electric, but for DeLauter, the night had been a grind. He stepped into the batter’s box in the top of the 10th inning sporting a brutal 0-for-4 line with three strikeouts.
He was facing Andrés Muñoz, one of the most terrifying closers in the game, a guy who throws absolute gas. DeLauter looked completely overmatched early in the at-bat. He flailed at a first-pitch slider in the dirt. He took a fastball inside for strike two and even burned an Automatic Ball-Strike (ABS) challenge in desperation. He was down 0-2, the crowd was roaring, and he looked every bit like a rookie drowning in the deep end.
And then, he wasn’t. Muñoz fired a 96.6 mph four-seamer. It was nearly a foot off the center of the plate. It didn’t matter. DeLauter extended those massive arms, connected with a 99 mph exit velocity, and sent the baseball 365 feet into the opposite-field seats. That two-run blast gave Cleveland a 6-3 lead they would desperately need to hold on for a 6-5 victory.
“I was on fastballs all night,” DeLauter said after the game, showing the calm demeanor of a ten-year veteran. “Unfortunately, it didn’t really go my way for most of it, but I stuck with a plan and got a heater up and just went after it.”
Guardians Rookie Joins Elite Company
That monumental swing wasn’t just the game-winner; it was a slice of baseball history. That 10th-inning bomb was DeLauter’s fourth home run in his first three career regular-season games. Let that sink in for a second.
In the long, storied history of Major League Baseball, only one other player has ever hit four home runs in their first three games: Trevor Story, who went on a legendary tear for the Colorado Rockies back in 2016. Furthermore, DeLauter joins Story and former Mariner Kyle Lewis (2019) as the only three players to homer in each of their first three major league games.
For a guy who came into the season as MLB Pipeline’s No. 45 overall prospect, the expectations were high. But nobody predicted this kind of historic power surge right out of the gate.
The Martian and the Knight Helmet
You know you’re doing something ridiculous when your own teammates can’t quite comprehend what they are watching. Guardians starter Joey Cantillo shook his head when asked about his new teammate. “That just shows you how good he is,” Cantillo said. “What are we calling him, ‘The Martian’? He’s a special player.”
Steven Kwan, known for his elite bat-to-ball skills, was even more blunt about the absurdity of taking a Muñoz fastball out of the yard. “That’s stupid,” Kwan said. “That’s really stupid how he’s able to do that… To be able to do it, especially here with the wind blowing in, a really big fence out in left, it’s as talented as you can be.”
The vibes in the Cleveland Guardians dugout are immaculate right now, highlighted by their incredible new home run celebration: a literal knight helmet with a crown, purchased during a team-bonding trip to Medieval Times in Arizona. So far this season, DeLauter is the only guy who has actually worn it, having accounted for every single Cleveland home run in 2026 at that point.
Is Chase DeLauter the Next Big Thing For the Guardians?
It’s easy to get swept up in the hype of a hot opening weekend. Baseball is a marathon of 162 games, and pitchers will eventually adjust to DeLauter. They’ll find the holes in his swing, and he will have to adjust back. That is the chess match of the major leagues.
But what makes DeLauter’s start so deeply compelling isn’t just the distance of the home runs—it’s the human resilience. It’s the ability to strike out three times, look foolish on a slider, go down 0-2 against an elite closer in extra innings, and still have the mental fortitude to stay locked in and deliver the game-winning blow.
As Guardians Manager Stephen Vogt noted, “He’s just showing his poise. That was pretty special.” While franchise legend José Ramírez was quietly making his own history that same night, hitting his 400th career double to join Cleveland royalty like Tris Speaker and Nap Lajoie, all eyes were understandably on the rookie.
We don’t know what the rest of 2026 holds for Chase DeLauter. But if his first three games are any indication, Guardians fans are in for a profoundly entertaining ride.
