The Cleveland Guardians' weaknesses are pretty clear and they haven't been a secret for the last two seasons. This offense needs some pop, badly.
One player is trying to change his swing and help this team have a little power in their lineup, that would be Steven Kwan. He revealed to the Cleveland Guardians Podcast that he's gone through a hitting program this offseason with the focus being bat speed and power.
Kwan broke down how these two focuses are one and the same and what he's done to improve both heading into 2024.
"It's kind of just working out in general. There's this bat speed program. It's tailored to you take a couple of swings with the heavy bat and then you take a couple of swings with the light bat. In each of those swings your body is going to sequence itself to swing the bad hard when you get that regular bat in your hand, it's adjusted to both sides and ideally, you're going to be swinging faster."
On whether or not this program will improve bat speed or power, Kwan said "In a funny way it's both. You kind of trust your path so that contact comes with that and then definitely power. Obviously, if you have more speed coming behind the bat [the ball] is going to go farther. A little bit of both, but definitely more for the power aspect, but it's cool how the contact finds its way as well.
Kwan hasn't been known for his power through his first two big league seasons. He's only hit a total of 11 home runs and slugged a .384 in his career. However, Kwan does have tremendous contact ability which could help him in his search for more pop.
The Guardians don't need Kwan to hit 40 home runs a year. Although, that would be pretty nice. But if he can become a threat to hit 10-15 homers each season then it would really raise the ceiling of what this offense is capable of.
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