It’s time for the Guardians to make necessary Steven Kwan change 

It took Daniel Schneemann one swing to change the tenor of the conversation around the Guardians’ leadoff spot. 

With Steven Kwan out of the Guardians’ starting lineup on Friday, Schenmann stepped into Cleveland’s leadoff spot and deposited a Max Scherzer fastball into the right field seats to stake the Guardians to a 1-0 lead one batter into the game.

While Kwan has been a productive mainstay in the Guardians’ leadoff spot in the time since he made his MLB debut at the start of 2022, it’s been a different story this season. 

In fact, it’s been so much of a different story that it’s time for the Guardians to move Kwan out of the leadoff spot. 

The Guardians could unlock their lineup by moving Steven Kwan out of the leadoff spot 

Although that decision would have seemed blasphemous 12 months ago, moving Kwan lower in the lineup would take some pressure off him while also giving the Guardians a chance to see what could look like in a post-Kwan world. 

After a 1-for-5 showing on Sunday, Kwan’s now slashing .225/.310/.284 through 27 games, which is a far cry from the .337/.394/.495 slashline he had at this juncture last season en route to nailing down the second All-Star nod of his career. 

But it’s clear that he’s not himself this season. Whether that’s because of injury (he missed almost all of the Guardians’ game on Saturday due to a stiff neck), pressure from his position change to center field or some other factor, it’s clear that Kwan isn’t himself right now. 

Moving Kwan down in the lineup would give him a chance to get a mental and physical refresh that could help unlock him for the remaining five months of the season. Again, it doesn’t need to be permanent, but sometimes temporary adjustments can unlock permanent solutions. 

Normally Kwan serves as the table-setter ahead of the Guardians’ big bats, but dropping him in the lineup could allow for him to benefit from the production generated by José Ramírez and Chase DeLauter in front of him. 

Pitchers would be forced to throw him more pitches in the zone than if he was in the lineup — though he hasn’t been able to do much with those pitches as of late. 

Kwan currently has an average exit velocity of just 88 miles per hour, which is one of the worst marks in the league. A reset is in order. 

It also helps that the Guardians have a variety of players who could fill in at the top of the lineup in the meantime. 

Although Schnemann stands out as the top option after his leadoff blast on Friday (he finished the game 2-for-4 with a walk), Angel Martínez also has a solid case to earn some spot at leadoff.

Martínez went 1-for-4 in the leadoff spot on Saturday and is a switch-hitter with a .330 on-base percentage this season. That’ll play at the top of the lineup. 

The Guardians need Kwan to be at his best if they want to have a chance to compete in 2026, but he hasn’t been able to hold up that end of the bargain so far this season. It’s time to see if a lineup shift can fix that. 

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