Who is Steven Kwan and Where Did He Come From?
The last person to hit .400 was Ted Williams back in 1941. The Guardian's Steven Kwan has a chance to do it this year.
At the beginning of the 2022 regular season Cleveland Guardians had low expectations. They had an offseason full of let downs. They did not extend the best player on the team Jose Ramirez (now they have extended him). The team also failed to sign any help in the outfield. They had a disastrous name change that was made with zero fan support. So to say the outlook for the season was bleak would be an understatement. That was until the first week of the season.
To start the year the team took two straight losses to the Kansas City Royals. In these two games Ramirez continued to prove he was one of the best hitters in baseball but there was another player on offense turning heads. Steven Kwan was playing out of his mind. For five games Steven Kwan did not swing and miss at a single pitch. For context the league is right around 25%. Kwan is also a rookie taking his first at bats of his major league career and he is already setting records.
Before the start of the season very few people had ever heard of Kwan. Kwan is an Oregon State Beaver's alumni and played with top prospects Adley Rutschman and Nick Madrigal in college. In college Kwan slashed .356/.463/.457 in his final year in college. These numbers are certainly good but Kwan showed little power numbers in college only totaling 3 home runs as a Beaver.
Kwan was drafted in the 5th round of the 2018 draft by the then Cleveland Indians. Kwan settled as the number 11 prospect in Cleveland's farm system. Kwan excelled as a contact hitter in the minors, earning a major league spring training invite to the teams big league camp this year. Kwan played well enough in the spring to make the opening day roster and has not disappointed.
Kwan's big league success is especially shocking as Cleveland is not known for developing hitters in the minors. In the last four to five years there have been little to no hitters coming through the minors for Cleveland. There's only one other notable hitter that has come through recently and that is first baseman Bobby Bradley who is still not reaching his full potential.
Kwan's minor league career was impressive to say the least. Excluding high A ball, Kwan’s lowest batting average in the minors was .301. As the saying goes if you hit .300 in the majors you're a hall of famer so if he can continue that trend he could have a bright future.
Steven is from Los Gatos California and he went to Washington High School in Fremont. He batted .462 as a senior in 2015 later enrolling at Oregon State to play for coach Mitch Canham.
While based on an extremely short sample size, Kwan has slashed .387/.554/548. This is what is called a hot start, and he is hoping to continue this hot start as the season continues. If he hits like he has there are a few records he could shoot for. Two of those are the elusive .400 batting average that has not been achieved since Ted Williams, and the rookie hit record for one season held by Ichiro Sizuki.
Back in 2001 Ichiro Suzuki set the league on fire winning Rookie of the Year and the MVP, leading his Mariners to a record breaking 116 regular season wins. Ichiro hit .350 with 242 hits. This smashed the previous record and it's not close. For his efforts he earned an all-star selection in his first season. The other record he could shoot for is hitting .400 for a whole season. Someone with Kwans skill set at the plate is the right kind of guy to reach that mark. The last person to hit .400 was Ted Williams back in 1941. Williams is one of if not the best hitter to ever live. The way Williams hit is still taught to hitters today.
In the end all we can hope for is for Steven Kwan to continue to produce like this at the plate. Maybe he can help lead the team back to the playoffs along with other key contributors. Hopefully his career is a good one and maybe he could become the next big thing.