Rookie sensation Steven Kwan, an outfielder for the Cleveland Guardians, is the talk of MLB’s opening weekend.
After the first three games, he is slashing .800/.857/1.000 with four runs scored and three walks, with no strikeouts to his name.
He is quick, has some power, and his on-base skills look legit.
He is already at Mike Trout’s level, right?
Kidding aside, that last line was part of Austen Wade’s joke about Kwan and the hype machine in MLB.
— Austen Wade (@Austen_Wade) April 10, 2022
Wade posted a famous meme in which a person can’t decide between two similar options, using Kwan and Trout.
As hilarious as it was, Kwan is definitely earning some rave reviews because of his excellent play.
He is no Trout (probably nobody is), but his contact and on-base skills combination, together with some power and speed, make him a starting-caliber outfielder in MLB.
It’s nice to see the Guardians developing more young pieces for their rebuild, one that will be centered around the newly-extended Jose Ramirez and probably Shane Bieber.
Skills To Succeed
While Kwan will evidently not hit .800 for a full season, his recent minor league numbers suggest he has some staying power.
First, he is young, at 24: it’s not like it’s a fluke-ish 30-year-old journeyman on a hot streak.
Second, his walk-per-strikeout ratio last year was 36/31 between Double-A and Triple-A, which is actually elite and gives him a nice floor.
And third, he belted 12 home runs in 77 games between the two high minor league levels in 2021: he is not a slugger and perhaps won’t clear the 20-homer threshold, but he is not a light-hitting burner: he has some speed, yes, but he has some power, too.
All things considered, he should be a mainstay in the Guardians’ lineup as long as he can keep hitting, and he has shown he has the ability to keep mashing.
NEXT: Guardians Pitcher Embracing The Steven Kwan Hype