Steven Kwan's strong July has helped him start to rewrite his Guardians future

On June 23, Steven Kwan had an 0-for-2 showing as a pinch-hitter in the Cleveland Guardians 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox. 

With the dismal performance, Kwan’s slashline dropped to .206/.316/.251, which was a tangible example of how bad his season had been up to that point. 

But a funny thing has happened in the 19 games he’s played in since then: He’s started to look like himself again. 

While Kwan’s counting stats for the season still leave a lot to be desired, he’s had a .309/.406/.418 slashline in those 19 games, which has been a huge boost for the Guardians. 

Kwan’s been even better since the calendar flipped to July, as his .974 OPS is the second-best full month in his career behind his fantastic June 2024. 

Even if Kwan’s been a bit of a black hole in the Guardians’ lineup for most of the season, he’s finally started to find his groove in a way that could help lead Cleveland to success for the rest of the season. 

Steven Kwan is back to looking like himself

Last year, Kwan entered the All-Star Break with a .285/.345/.396 slashline with six home runs and 32 RBI before picking up a clutch game-tying hit in the All-Star Game. Not only did Kwan bring ‘Guards Ball’ to the biggest stage, but he also brought a bit more attention to his name ahead of a trade deadline where it seemed like he could be dealt. 

But the Guardians ended up holding on to him at the deadline and offseason, though those decisions looked like a mistake given Kwan’s struggles at the beginning of the year. 

Earlier this year Kwan’s struggles seemed a lot worse earlier in the season when he was hitting at leadoff, the Guardians moved him out of the leadoff spot in place of Travis Bazzana.  

In a perfect world, Kwan would have been at the bottom of Cleveland’s lineup working alongside Brayan Rocchio, but he only got to be there for a month before José Ramírez, Angel Martínez and Chase DeLauter suffered injuries that forced Rocchio up to the top of the lineup. 

But Kwan’s stuck at the bottom of the lineup, and has picked up Rocchio’s role as the spark plug who works as a quasi-leadoff hitter. 

This year has been a showcase of Kwan’s profiles to some pretty serious extremes. He ranks in the 100th percentile in squared-up rate and whiff rate, but is in the bottom percentile in hard-hit rate (9.7%), barrel rate (0.4%) and average exit velocity (83.1%). 

He’s not hitting the ball hard, but he still has his incredible plate discipline and defense (6 Outs Above Average). All told, Kwan’s been worth 1.5 bWAR this year, which is a pretty impressive number considering how his season started. 

Earlier in the year, it looked like Kwan was in danger of being a DFA candidate after the season, but his strong play in July has helped change that equation.

Even if Kwan isn’t the same kind of productive hitter as he was through the first three years of his career, he’s quietly been one of the most productive hitters for the Guardians over the past three weeks, and could end up being one of the biggest X-factors in the second half.

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