Guardians rookie outfielder Steven Kwan embodies old school style of play atop lineup

Steven Kwan will likely end up as an American League Rookie of the Year finalist in 2022. But his playing style is straight out of 1972, as if his brand new rookie card should already be aged and yellowed with time.

He's not an imposing physical figure at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds. He doesn't hit for much power. He doesn't quite fit the mold of the trend that has followed baseball these past many years and transformed the game.

But Kwan is about as annoying of a hitter as there is in baseball, which has made him the perfect leadoff hitter. And he has embodied the Guardians' old-school lineup as much as anyone.

Kwan finished his 2022 rookie season hitting .298 with a .373 on-base percentage, six home runs, 25 doubles, seven triples, 52 RBIs and 19 stolen bases. His 4.3 fWAR was fourth among all rookies.

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He was productive, and he still has value in a lineup even if he doesn't reach base due to the sheer number of pitches he sees as he works counts and fouls off two-strike offerings. In a way, Kwan has helped to set up Jose Ramirez in what has been another potential Most Valuable Player-finalist season. Kwan has been worth more to the lineup than his stat line would suggest.

He's the "little guy" in the lineup, a true throwback.

"He reminds me of the original little guy, the little hitter in the major leagues of the past," hitting coach Victor Rodriguez said. "How important was that guy to get on base, steal a bag, have competitive at-bats? He sees a lot of pitches. He helps the lineup so much. Even when he doesn't get the result he wants, he still helps the next guy because of the amount of pitches he made that guy throw, so the next guy knows all the pitches that guy has because of him.

"That's a little guy. That's a guy that even in the at-bats he doesn't get the results he wants, he helps the team."

It's part of the reason why Kwan supplanted Myles Straw as the club's leadoff hitter, and why he won't be leaving that spot anytime soon. Kwan relishes the role of not only needing to get on base, but seeing as many pitches as possible while Amed Rosario and Ramirez lurk behind him. It's part of the responsibility of a leadoff hitter, as he sees it. And it happens to be one of his best attributes.

Kwan said earlier this season his goal is to be as "annoying" as possible. That means having great strike-zone discipline. It means fouling off pitches he can't drive. And it means getting on base whenever pitchers do have to come into the zone.

"I remember earlier in the year, they said a big thing I was doing was seeing pitches for Jose when I was in the two-hole, so I take a lot of pride in that," Kwan said recently. "I know I can hit with two strikes so I kind of see what the pitcher's arsenal is that day and being able to dissect that, I think, is really big."

Kwan makes a ton contact. His 91.9 percent contact percentage was second in baseball, behind only batting champion Luis Arraez of the Minnesota Twins. He doesn't swing at bad pitches. His 23.3 O-swing percentage (how often a player swings a pitches outside the zone) is the ninth-best in the league.

He runs the bases aggressively. He does all the little things a manager would love to see from a player. He has epitomized the Guardians' old-school style of play that has won them 92 games and the American League Central Division.

Much of the baseball world has trended toward a "three true outcome" style of play, meaning more home runs, walks and strikeouts, but the Guardians have a lineup built on contact and running first-to-third. While much of the league zigged, the Guardians zagged. And Kwan has been right in the middle of it all.

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This spring, the Guardians knew they wouldn't be able to keep up if they tried to go home run for home run every night. They had to play this way out of necessity. The Guardians followed that path to a division title, posting a team contact rate of 80.8 percent, the highest in baseball. The difference between the Guardians and the Houston Astros in second place (78.8 percent) was more than the difference between second place and 15th.

Kwan helped to lead the throwback revolution.

"We realized from the beginning of spring training, as a group, as a team, that we needed to do something like that if we were gonna compete," Rodriguez said. "Our goal has always been to score one more run than the other team — not 10. If we score 10, that's good, but I think when your focus is on scoring one more run, we focus on situational hitting, getting on base, seeing pitches, moving the guy over, getting the guy in. Those little things have allowed us to do that instead of depending on power."

Kwan works pitchers. He doesn't swing outside of the zone. He makes contact on just about everything that would be a strike. He carries with him an approach more reminiscent of a veteran All-Star than someone who only recently turned 25 years old.

The Guardians won the division in large part thanks to a wave of rookies who made signifiant contributions in 2022. The club opened the door for 17 players to make their major league debuts in 2022, tied for the most in franchise history, and they cleared the path for many to receive significant playing time. The opportunity was there. Kwan seized it.

"We want them to contribute to helping us win games and Steven embodies that as well as any player who has transitioned to the major leagues for us," President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti said. "From Day One, he has found a way to contribute to helping us win games every night, whether that's offensively, putting a ball in play or moving a runner over, the way he runs the bases, the way he plays defense.

"I was thinking about it the other night. Tthere aren’t many times where you go back through the course of the year and remember when Steven has made a mental miscue. And if it is, I guarantee he hasn’t made it twice."

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Steven Kwan in a competitive AL Rookie of the Year race

Most years, Kwan likely would have done enough to win AL Rookie of the Year, but superb performances by Julio Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners and Adley Rutschman of the Baltimore Orioles, will likely place Kwan third in voting.

But in a year that featured a breakout season from Andres Gimenez, a Jose Ramirez-like season from Jose Ramirez and a truly dominant showing from closer Emmanuel Clase, an argument exists that Kwan could be the Guardians' MVP as a rookie who answered one of the biggest questions on the roster and handled the leadoff spot with such poise.

"It's just a pleasure," Rodriguez said of Kwan's approach. "He's a guy that every at-bat, you stop what you're doing because you expect something good's gonna happen. It's like with Jose Ramirez, every at-bat, you know something good is gonna happen so you have to stop and watch. It's been a pleasure to watch those guys and to see them develop."

Steven Kwan's torrid start was followed by an icy May

Kwan began his career as hot as any hitter in history, becoming the first since at least 1901 to reach base 15 times in his first four career games. He swung 40 times before he missed a pitch. That, of course, didn't last to that extent. It was never going to. But Kwan did struggle through a typical slow period that often accompanies a rookie season. Pitchers began pounding the inside part of the strike zone. His blazing hot start turned ice cold and it began to impact him mentally.

"I thought I was seeing the writing on the wall and was like, 'OK, this is part of the failures, they'll send me down,' all these negative thoughts, that kind of a thing, just manifesting itself," Kwan said. "I talked with some of the good vets we have and they just kept saying 'everything's gonna be fine, don't change your game, don't change your style, don't change your mechanics, just keep trusting what you're doing and things will work out,' so I tried to stick to my plan and not change too much. Staying true to myself was really important."

After three weeks, he pulled himself out of it and hasn't looked back. Often times, that kind of a stretch can send rookie hitters back to Triple-A to try to adjust to the adjustment pitchers have made. The league can be unkind in that way. But Kwan stayed his course, escaped that rut and hasn't looked back. He got better as the season progressed, posting an .804 OPS in August and then an .815 OPS in September/October.

"He's got a little bit of [Michael] Brantley in him," Francona said. "He doesn't make mistakes. We've seen him will himself a few times to make plays, but for a younger kid his clock is really good. … He's beyond his years and beyond his experience as far as the way he plays the game."

That consistency for a player in his rookie year is what impressed his teammates the most. It's a rare trait. It's how Kwan so quickly earned the trust of his teammates.

"He does a really nice job of staying within himself every day," said catcher Austin Hedges, one of the most veteran players on the roster. "You know what you're gonna get with Kwan. That's something that's pretty hard to do in this game. There are so many days where you don't feel good, days where you don't want to show up to the yard and to continue to be the same guy every day is something most guys have to learn after a few years in the big leagues. It's very rare."

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis.

Rays at Guardians

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians rookie Steven Kwan embodies old school style