HOUSTON -- If you’ve been paying attention to the Akron Rubberducks’ schedule, you’ve probably noticed the team’s top prospect has been absent from the lineup.

Outfielder Chase DeLauter has not played since Thursday due to pain in his left foot. That’s the same foot that he broke in college and needed surgery in January 2023 due to another small fracture. Last year, he was sidelined until the beginning of June, recovering from the procedure. But this time, the organization doesn’t seem to be too concerned.

DeLauter is expected to just miss a handful of games. He was out of the lineup again Tuesday, but the club believes he should be back in the mix in the near future. Given his history with an area that’s been sore, the Rubberducks wanted to be extra cautious making sure that he’s pain free before he gets back on the field.

All eyes have been on DeLauter since he stole the spotlight in big league camp … when he wasn’t even in big league camp. The 22-year-old outfielder was part of Cleveland’s depth camp this spring, meaning he and a handful of other young prospects came over to the Major League practices and games for a few weeks to get some experience and help fill innings. He was never competing for a roster spot, but he caught the attention of every coach, manager, front office member and fan in sight by hitting .520 with a 1.640 OPS, four homers and 10 RBIs in 13 Cactus League games.

Since then, things have slowed down a bit for DeLauter. In his first 16 games with Double-A Akron this year, he hit .197 with a .591 OPS, one homer, nine walks and 13 strikeouts. But this is the part of the development that the Guardians were ready for him to face.

Last year, DeLauter cruised once he returned from his injury, hitting a combined .355 with a .945 OPS in 57 contests between Rookie Ball, High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron. Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti spoke this spring about how there’s no magic answer to knowing when a prospect is ready to take a leap to the big leagues, but facing adversity in the Minors is usually important.

“Chase in particular has had some physical challenges but hasn’t really faced adversity in performance on the field,” Antonetti said on March 14. “So it’ll be interesting to see when that happens, how does he respond to it.”