Guardians Rookie Steven Kwan Is the Breakout Star So Far This Season

His success is historic and unsustainable, but his future looks bright nonetheless.

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It was at 4:02 p.m. CT on Tuesday afternoon that Guardians rookie outfielder Steven Kwan did the unthinkable: he swung at a pitch and missed. Except not really—the Cleveland social media team just said that he did, as some sort of clever joke. The real seismic event occurred the next day—except not really, depending on your definition of the word “whiff.”

Kwan’s bat-to-ball skills are so elite that he actually made contact on his first career swinging strike, foul tipping a ball into the catcher’s mitt in his first plate appearance on Wednesday against the Reds. The official ruling of a swing and a miss begs the question of what even is a miss if the batter, you know, doesn’t actually miss the ball.

I genuinely love that after a lifetime of watching baseball I can still unlock stuff to get pedantically worked up about in new ways. (If contact is recorded, even if only on the tippiest of foul tips, that is spiritually not a whiff to me!!!!) https://t.co/eCJ1Lz2SvN

— Emma Baccellieri (@emmabaccellieri) April 13, 2022

Whatever your feelings on the surprisingly open-ended meaning of “whiff,” what’s not up for debate is the incredible start of Kwan’s career. Despite an 0-for-4 day on Wednesday, Kwan has reached base in 19 of his first 29 plate appearances, with eight walks, three extra-base hits and just one strikeout. It took 116 pitches for him to record his first swing-and-miss, which is the most by any player to start his career since 2000. His 19 times reaching base in his first six career games are the second-most all-time since at least the start of the 20th century.

Kwan’s success is historic and unsustainable, but it does not come out of nowhere. He toyed with college pitchers in three seasons at Oregon State, batting .329/.431/.418 with more than double the amount of walks (82) than strikeouts (38). After getting drafted in the fifth round in 2018, he similarly feasted on minor league pitching. Across 217 games, Kwan hit .301/.380/.438, walking more times (100) than he struck out (87).

Peter Aiken/USA TODAY Sports

Amid his ridiculous streak of never swinging and missing, Kwan was asked about how he’s able to be such an elite contact hitter. He recalled how, as a child, he would get so upset when he struck out that he would start to cry. The solution? Simple: don’t strike out.

Kwan’s style is a throwback one—like contemporary high-contact, low-power hitters David Fletcher and Nicky Lopez—that draws comparisons to Tony Gwynn. When asked about his put-the-bat-on-the-ball approach, Kwan’s answer served as a glowing example of knowing one’s limitations and playing to one’s strengths.

“I think that a lot of those guys who strike out a little more, they have the ability to hit it out of the ballpark, and I don’t have that luxury as much,” Kwan told MLB Network’s Alanna Rizzo. “So I have to impact the game in other ways. I think that’s grinding an at bat, just trying to touch the ball and see the defense work, that’s my game.”

For at least the first week of his career, Kwan has made the defense work tirelessly, and to no avail. The first week of the season was designed to have breakout stories like this one, echoing similar early-season flashes like Yermín Mercedes and Akil Baddoo from 2021. Like Mercedes and Baddoo, Kwan might not have ever been considered an elite prospect, but he’s already left his mark in his first taste of life as a big leaguer.

And he’s not the only Guardian to come out of the starting gates on fire. Through Wednesday’s games, José Ramírez, Owen Miller and Kwan ranked first, third and fourth, respectively, in the majors in hits. (The Guardians didn’t play Thursday.) Collectively, they provide a great glimpse of Cleveland’s future potential with two rookies and a superstar who just signed a five-year contract extension.

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While Ramírez is the engine that makes the Guardians go and Miller has one more hit and a higher slugging percentage, it’s Kwan who’s stolen the show thus far. The 24-year-old might have gone relatively unnoticed as a prospect, but regardless of how long his hot streak lasts, his days of flying under the radar are no more.

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