The move out of the leadoff spot has not been easy for Steven Kwan, and the numbers this season reflect a player still searching for his best form. But after Tuesday night’s 4-3 win over the Detroit Tigers, it was the opposing manager who stepped forward to remind everyone exactly who Steven Kwan is.
Tigers skipper A.J. Hinch did not hesitate when asked about the Cleveland outfielder.
“He’s an All-Star,” Hinch said of Kwan. “Even All-Stars do positive things when the scoreboard is telling you they haven’t had a perfect season. He finds his way in the middle and obviously sparked that inning to allow them to score.”
Hinch’s words align with what Stephen Vogt said after Monday’s game, when he praised Kwan for getting on base and noted that his swing on one particular drive to right center was one of the better ones he had seen from him all season. The narrative around Kwan has been dominated by his batting average, but the people watching him every single day keep pointing to signs that the turnaround is coming.
The current numbers show Kwan hitting .204 across 167 at-bats with a .332 on-base percentage and a .595 OPS, a 72 OPS+ that is well below his career standard of .276/.350/.731 and a 107 OPS+. His last five games, however, show a player beginning to find himself. He went 1-1 with a walk and a run scored on Tuesday, drew three walks on Monday, and has been reaching base with increasing regularity even as the hits remain inconsistent.
The two stolen bases on the season are also well below his career pace, but at 28 years old with four Gold Gloves and two All-Star selections to his name, the talent and the instincts are not going anywhere. What Hinch was pointing to is the intangible quality that separates good players from great ones, the ability to contribute and impact a game even when the personal results are not what they should be.
Cleveland has not given up on Kwan and neither has Vogt. The lineup adjustment was made to take pressure off him, not to write him off, and the early returns suggest it may be working in subtle ways.
Getting him back to that version of himself is one of the more important storylines remaining in the first half of Cleveland’s season.
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