Although the season was cut short due to COVID-19, Chase DeLauter was one of the country’s premier two-way freshmen for James Madison University this past spring. Hitting a robust .382 and reaching base safely in each of his first 15 games, the sturdy lefty also tossed 14.2 innings on the mound with 14 strikeouts on his way to being named a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American.
With COVID-19 ending a promising season prematurely, things seemed to happen fast. As DeLauter puts it, the Dukes had just won a game against Maryland and were at their Thursday practice preparing for a weekend series against Niagara. They got the news and it was a whirlwind from there.
“We ended up beating Maryland 4-2 on Wednesday. Went out Thursday for practice and everything was normal. We saw some stuff online about schools shutting down but we didn’t even think of it as a possibility as us not playing. Then at the end of practice they told us we had to go home,” he said. “It was almost something that didn’t kick in until the next week because it all happened so fast.”
Still, DeLauter has one of the brightest futures of any player in the country and, if he continues on this trajectory, has a good chance to be drafted in two years. I recently had a chance to sit down with Chase after a workout with some other local players that included Randy Dobnak of the Minnesota Twins, Austin Bulman of Rice University, and Beau Lowery of West Virginia University. We talked about the adjustment to being a leadoff hitter as well as how it felt to take batting practice off a big-league pitcher.
The 2019 West Virginia state Player of the Year, DeLauter wasted no time in making his presence felt for the Dukes. He stepped right in and hit leadoff, though that wasn’t the original plan. In fact, he was told just a week before the JMU’s opening series against NC State that he would be leading off.
“Then at the end of practice they told us we had to go home,” he said. “It was almost something that didn’t kick in until the next week because it all happened so fast.””
“Our actual leadoff hitter (2019 all-CAA outfielder Trevon Dabney) got hurt. I was going to play center and he was going to play left and leadoff but once he got hurt they told me a week before our opener I would be the leadoff,” he said.
In just 16 games he tallied a team-high 26 hits which he credits to his aggressive approach and his coaches for having faith in what he was trying to do.
“Once they told me I was going to be a lead-off hitter, I wanted to be aggressive early. I was trying to swing early in the count and hit for power, not just get on base,” DeLauter said. “So, I was trying to learn and I didn’t want to get behind in counts so the coaches were OK with my approach.”
As for the pitching side of his game, Delauter said it was more of an adjustment on how to manage his body. The workload of a weekend series was different from what he experienced in high school when he could throw seven innings one day and play the field the next. Much like hitting, he was learning on the job.
“Pitching-wise I was learning as I went. It was different in high school where I’d play seven innings in the field and then go pitch seven innings. I was getting used to playing nine innings Friday and Saturday and then getting my body ready to pitch on Sundays. I was learning how my body would react to that and how I would recover to be able to play mid-week,” he said.
As for whether or not he will continue to play both ways, DeLauter feels he can continue to do both “for as long as possible,” even though some think his professional future would be as a hitter.
“With the way I started off the year I was seeing the ball well but pitching, obviously, if velocity and mechanics come along that might be a possibility. But I definitely don’t want to stop pitching to keep hitting.”
DeLauter told me working with Dobnak has seemingly help him as both a hitter and a pitcher.
“In all honesty, I can take tips from him pitching anytime. Obviously, he’s a big-league pitcher. He’s not going to be wrong about most of the mechanical things. Hitting wise, I’ve never seen an arm like that with the sink and the run. It’s good to hit off a guy who is low-to-mid 90’s who can spot up so when I go back to school, it will be easier to pick up on things.”
With most facilities being shut down, something as small as just getting on a field is the important thing. After all, at some point Chase will be back in Harrisonburg preparing for another season. Like many others, he just appreciates the opportunity to get some work in.
“It’s great to have people around here letting us get on the ballfield. Obviously Randy (Dobnak) being here and getting to hit off a major league pitcher and then getting in work with other college hitters and pitchers like I would down at school. It feels good to get in the work,” he said.
There is no doubt DeLauter is a name to watch as he should be one of the top hitters in the country next year. It will be fascinating to track his growth as a pitcher for the Dukes though. He has a projectable frame (6’3/230) and the day I saw him he was sitting 89-91 with movement from the left side. If he can be more consistent in his delivery, we could be looking at a top-100 pick as a two-way player in 2022.