Jun 22, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan (38) rounds the bases on his solo home run in the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Progressive Field. David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan Joins Exclusive List as Batting Average Nears .400

Originally posted on Fastball on SI | By Sam Connon | Last updated Jun 23, 2024 5:52 PM ET

Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan stayed hot Sunday, paving the way for a sweep over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Kwan led off the fourth inning with a home run to put Cleveland on top 5-3. The Guardians went on to win 6-5 as Kwan finished the afternoon 2-for-5 at the plate.

Steven Kwan has homered in back-to-back games. pic.twitter.com/YEeErW7i7K
— MLB (@MLB) June 23, 2024

As it stands, Kwan is now batting .390 on the season. He is 11 plate appearances shy of qualifying for the league leaderboards – thanks to the four weeks he missed with a left hamstring strain in May – but his batting average is 79 points higher than the official AL leader, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr.

Kwan is now just the fifth player since 2000 to have a batting average of .390 or higher through 49 games played, minimum 150 plate appearances, according to MLB.com's Sarah Langs.

Todd Helton was batting .420 at this point in his season back in 2000, while Chipper Jones was batting .418 in 2008. Joe Mauer, another Hall of Famer, was batting .395 through 49 games in 2009.

Justin Turner was the last to achieve the feat prior to Kwan, also hitting .390 across his first 49 appearances in 2017.

.390+ BA in first 49 games played in a season, since 2000 (min 150 PA):

2024 Steven Kwan: .390 (.575 SLG)
2017 Justin Turner: .390 (.537)
2009 Joe Mauer: .395 (.697)
2008 Chipper Jones: .418 (.674)
2000 Todd Helton: .420 (.824)
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) June 23, 2024

Kwan's slugging percentage is also up to .575, compared to his .370 mark from a year ago. As Langs noted on Saturday, that is far and away the best year-over-year improvement across the league this year.

The 26-year-old outfielder won Gold Gloves in both 2022 and 2023, finishing third in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022.

After entering this season with a .739 career OPS, Kwan's season OPS is sitting at 1.023. He also came into Sunday with a 3.2 WAR, rapidly approaching the 3.6 mark he put up across 158 games in 2023.

This article first appeared on Fastball on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: