Guardians Season in Review: Steven Kwan

A season teetering on the edge of greatness

Steven Kwan was the American League’s starting left-fielder in 2024 - where does he go from here?

Kwan finished 2024 with a 131 wRC+ and 9.4/9.8 K/BB%, while putting up 10 Defensive Runs Saved and 3 Outs Above Average in the field. Interestingly enough, Kwan flirted with putting up a legendary year as from Opening Day through June 30th, he put up a 178 wRC+. At some point in July, Kwan’s back issues apparently started to flare up and he proceeded to put up a 90 wRC+ from July-September. After spending the majority of September on the injured list with his back, Kwan put up a 158 wRC+ with a 8.5/12.5 K/BB% in the ALDS and ALCS. Let’s be clear - a wRC+ over 170 would have made Kwan the fourth best qualified hitter in MLB, behind Judge, Ohtani and Soto.

Kwan got injured and hurt players tend to get hurt, so I am certainly not implying that we should hope for a healthy year and a 175 wRC+. But, it is tantalizing to imagine what might happen if Kwan’s hamstring, which bothered him to begin the year, and his back, which bothered him at the end, can behave themselves for a whole year. One thing that the Guardians should probably consider for Kwan, given his slight frame and these issues, is getting him a game off a week. If this would allow him a better chance to remain fresh, the benefit of an additional 30-40 wRC+ would make the tradeoff worth it.

What changed for Kwan in 2024 to reach these new offensive highs? He increased his fly-ball rate by about 10%, his launch angle by 4 degrees, and his hard hit rate by 5%. Most notably, Kwan hunted fastballs extremely effectively. Kwan went from around 3.5 runs above average for his career against fastballs to 10.9 runs above average against them in 2024. If you threw Kwan a fastball, he was looking for it, fouling pitches that weren’t fastballs off, taking his walks if he wasn’t giving one, and then doing as much damage as possible when he finally would see a fastball, increasing his ISO by .030 this past season. Kwan has realized that he does his damage on pitches in the middle or inner half of the plate, and in 2024 he forced pitchers to come in those zones and made the absolute most of it when they did.

What can Kwan do to improve in 2025? Essentially, stay healthy. Like Jose Ramirez, Kwan has seemingly maximized his frame for baseball purposes. He is the second-best leadoff hitter in baseball behind Ohtani, and I hope the greatest priority for the Guardians this offseason outside of adding two starting pitchers is extending Steven Kwan.

Here are some highlights from Kwan’s 2024 season: