Cleveland Guardians' leadoff hitter Steven Kwan is struggling with a .246 batting average and .671 OPS early in the season. Despite these numbers, there are deeper issues affecting his performance at the plate.
Guardians' Steven Kwan has a problem to solve originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The usual caveats about it being early in the season definitely still apply.
But so far, Cleveland Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan has not found himself in a great place at the plate.
His standard numbers bear that out: a .246 batting average and .671 OPS isn't up to Kwan's standard.
But when you look underneath the hood, you realize there's actually an issue here.
Kwan is hitting the ball slower than everyone else in baseball. His average exit velocity is just 80.5 miles per hour.
And while he's never been a guy that crushes the ball, that's way lower than last season.
In 2025, Kwan hit the ball at 86.2 MPH on average.
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He also found the launch angle sweet spot 39.7% of the time, compared to 30.0% so far this season.
He's still rarely whiffing, hardly chasing and usually squaring the ball up. It just hasn't been coming off the bat quite as well so far for Kwan.
That can have to do some with the cold weather, and some with difficult pitching matchups the Guardians have already dealt with.
Kwan actually got Sunday night off to recharge and not have to deal with tough lefty Chris Sale.
The Guardians don't want Kwan on the bench, though. They want him atop the lineup doing his thing. And to get back to his standard, there's some work to be done.
Steven Kwan has a batting average of .246 and an OPS of .671 this season.
Kwan is experiencing underlying issues that are impacting his performance, beyond just his standard statistics.
Kwan's current performance is below his usual standards, indicating a need for improvement as the season progresses.
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