Cleveland Guardians early-season darling Steven Kwan already knows what it’s like to succeed, fail, and adjust at the MLB level.
Those are the three stages of a hitter that comes out firing right out of the gate upon making his MLB debut.
Kwan was brilliant in April as a rookie: it seemed that every ball that touched his bat fell for a hit.
The league adjusted and he was largely ineffective for weeks.
He adjusted back, and is now back to being an asset at the plate.
Kwan, before Thursday’s games, is hitting .294/.368/.381 with two homers and seven stolen bases.
The power is modest, at best, but he gets on base so much that it hardly matters: Kwan is still an asset, an on-base dynamo that helps the offense produce lots of runs.
And the best part is that he is very, very hard to strike out.
A Tough One To Fool
His 8.5 percent strikeout rate is easily one of the best marks in MLB, and shows just how much contact he makes.
Inside Edge illustrated the reason why Kwan is so hard to strike out: he rarely misses the ball with two strikes.
“Miss Rate Two Strikes 2022 Season: 1. Steven Kwan – 6.7%; 2. Luis Arraez – 9.0%; 3. Jose Ramirez – 10.4%; 4. Alejandro Kirk – 11.6%,” they tweeted.
Miss Rate Two Strikes 2022 Season
1. Steven Kwan – 6.7%
2. Luis Arraez – 9.0%
3. Jose Ramirez – 10.4%
4. Alejandro Kirk – 11.6%#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/MeOWXcOltq— Inside Edge (@IE_MLB) July 28, 2022
The next phase in Kwan’s development as an MLB hitter – he is, after all, just 24 – would be inflicting more damage on contact.
He hit 12 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A last year, so there is some power in him.
In order to avoid pitchers just attacking him with pitches on the zone and taking away his ability to draw walks – why would they pitch around him if they can beat him on the zone? – he needs to prove he can make things happen on contact consistently.
For now, though, the Guardians are pretty happy with Kwan’s development as a batter.
They definitely have a keeper in him.
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