Steven Kwan’s season has turned on a dime.
On May 16, the Guardians did something they had barely done at all over the past four years: they bumped Kwan out of the leadoff spot. Stephen Vogt sent him to sixth in the order, ending a stretch in which Kwan had started 571 of his 625 career games at the top of the lineup.
At the time, the move made sense. Kwan was hitting .201, a steep drop from his .282 career average entering the season.
For a while, things got even rougher. By May 23, his average had dipped to .196, and his OPS sat at .572. There was even a sense that the move to center field might have been part of the problem, with Kwan dealing with the defensive adjustment while his bat disappeared.
But now, midway through August, he looks like a different hitter.
Kwan is back leading off, and he’s doing it after a blistering stretch that has pushed him into the conversation with the best bats in baseball. Since July 1, he has the fourth-best OPS in MLB, sitting at .969 entering Sunday.
That mark trails only a handful of hitters and puts him just behind Seiya Suzuki, CJ Abrams and Pete Crow-Armstrong. As Zack Meisel put it, “Through June 30, Kwan ranked 153rd out of 154 qualified hitters with a .575 OPS.
Since July 1 (and entering Sunday), Kwan ranks fourth out of 171 qualified hitters with a .969 OPS, just ahead of Seiya Suzuki, CJ Abrams and Pete Crow-Armstrong. Kwan has morphed from one of the least productive hitters in the league to one of the most proficient,”
The turnaround shows up everywhere. Entering play on Tuesday, Kwan was hitting .266 with a .694 OPS, numbers that would still stand as career lows over a full season.
Even so, the post-All-Star break version of Kwan has been much more dangerous, with a .386 batting average and .465 slugging percentage. He first started to find his rhythm while batting seventh, where he hit .247 but slugged only .284.
Kwan also hit a career milestone over the weekend. On Saturday against the San Diego Padres, he scored the 400th run of his MLB career when he stole home as part of a double steal.
The surge could have bigger implications, too. Kwan is a two-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, and his recent run may have strengthened the Guardians’ chances of keeping him around. He has been the subject of trade rumors because of his contract status and the fact that he could become a free agent after next season, but this stretch may reopen talks about an extension he has wanted for some time.
The timing matters for Cleveland as well. The Guardians have slipped to fourth place in the AL Central and dropped to eighth in the AL Wild Card race since the break. Kwan is setting a standard they’ll need to match.
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What makes this latest stop especially interesting is the roster squeeze that comes with it. Arias is out of minor league options, so Chicago cannot simply stash him away for insurance if the fit is not perfect. He has to stay on the major league roster unless the Cubs take the risk of designating him again and he gets through waivers, which leaves his immediate future tied to how aggressively they want to use him in the middle infield. [Read more 🡒]
Former Guardians Prospect Just Made Cleveland Revisit An Uncomfortable Trade
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For Cleveland, it also turned into a reminder of the trade that sent Wilkinson away, especially because he lined up against a pair of familiar faces from his High-A Lake County days. Angel Genao and Travis Bazzana were among the batters he handled in that outing, a small detail that only sharpened the sense that the Guardians were watching a player they once developed begin his career somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]
Zach Plesac's Latest Baseball Chapter Is A Tough Reminder For Cleveland Fans
Zach Plesacs baseball journey has taken another turn, and for Cleveland fans it serves as a reminder of how quickly a once-promising pitching career can drift from the big leagues. The former Guardians right-hander has already been through stops with the Angels and several independent and minor league clubs, keeping his professional life alive well beyond the familiar settings where he first made his name in Cleveland.
Now in the American Association, Plesac has found himself in some unfamiliar roles as he keeps chasing another chance to stick. His latest chapter has even included time in the field, and a small offensive contribution in one of those games showed just how far his path has stretched from the mound-only profile most fans remember. [Read more 🡒]