Steven Kwan has emerged as one of the best all-around players the Cleveland Guardians have. He's won two Gold Gloves in his first two seasons in the big league and established himself as one of the best contact hitters in the game.
Believe it or not, this wasn't always the reputation that Kwan had. Cleveland's left fielder isn't the biggest player on the field, doesn't hit a ton of homers, and even he knew from a young age that he would have to do extra to stand out.
What was the solution to this? Kwan decided early on in his baseball career that he needed to focus on making the most of every play and being a difference-maker on defense.
Kwan elaborated on this in a recent interview with MLB Radio on Sirius XM:
"Early on I think I saw I wasn’t gonna be one of the bigger kids hitting home runs out of the ballpark and everything," said Kwan. "My dad always just kind of hammered in my head like you gotta find other ways to impact the game whether that’s base running [or] defense. He loved the cliché 'defense never slumps.' So, that was always something that I took a lot of pride in. "
Kwan said it took him a while for his offense to come around. Even during his Oregon State, he wasn't viewed as the two-way player he is now.
"Even going into college, I really wasn’t hitting very well when I first got in there. My role was to either bunt or come in as a defensive replacement. I really think it was just survival you know just trying to find a place on the team. Playing good defense just trying to help the team win and then thankfully the bat came around and now it’s getting a little more well-rounded. But defense is always kind of been the one that kept me grounded and kept me on the field."
It's hard to ever imagine a version of Steven Kwan that wasn't a threat on offense. He's posted a slash line of .282/.356/.384 through his first two seasons in the majors and is one of the best leadoff hitters in baseball.
The Guardians will be looking for Kwan to have another big season in 2024 as he's the best thing they have in offense. Perhaps we'll see him develop a little more pop in his game the same way he grew into a solid hitter.
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