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Steven Kwan Surging In The Second Half
August 09, 2026 | Baseball
Steven Kwan is playing like himself again — and then some. Since the calendar flipped to July, the Cleveland left fielder has been arguably one of the best hitterz in baseball, and the numbers back it up: a .400/.509/.556 slash line with a staggering 204 wRC+, putting him on pace for the best single calendar month of his career. For a two-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glover, it's a return to the form that made him one of the game's most respected pure hitters.
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It's a sharp turnaround from earlier in the season, when Kwan was slashing a modest .212/.318/.257 with a wRC+ of just 71 through the end of June. But that rough patch now looks like little more than a slow start to a season that's turning into one of his best.
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Back in his familiar leadoff spot, Kwan has been grinding out marathon at-bats — a 10-pitch battle one night, a nine-pitch fight the next — the kind of stubborn, contact-obsessed approach that made him a fan favorite in the first place.
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It showed up loudly on August 7 against the Chicago White Sox, when he ripped a ball down the right-field line that clanged off the foul pole for his second home run of the season — a pull-side shot that Kwan himself has said is one of the clearest signs he's locked in at the plate.
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None of this should be surprising to anyone who followed him at Oregon State. Kwan's college career was basically a resurgence story in miniature. As a freshman Beaver in 2016, he struggled to find his footing — hitting just .215 in 35 games.
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By his sophomore year he was hitting .331, and as a junior in 2018 he broke out fully, batting .355/.463/.457 while hitting leadoff ahead of future big leaguers Nick Madrigal, Trevor Larnach, and Adley Rutschman.
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That 2018 team went on to win Oregon State's third national championship in program history, with Kwan starring throughout the postseason. Cleveland liked what it saw enough to take him in the fifth round of the 2018 draft.
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That pattern — a slow start followed by a deliberate, almost stubborn climb to peak form — has essentially repeated itself at the highest level. Kwan has been cautious about declaring himself fully "back," but the underlying numbers, and the quality of his at-bats, tell a clear story: the disciplined, opposite-field-hitting table-setter Cleveland has relied on for four years is not just back — he might be better than ever.
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It's a sharp turnaround from earlier in the season, when Kwan was slashing a modest .212/.318/.257 with a wRC+ of just 71 through the end of June. But that rough patch now looks like little more than a slow start to a season that's turning into one of his best.
Â
Back in his familiar leadoff spot, Kwan has been grinding out marathon at-bats — a 10-pitch battle one night, a nine-pitch fight the next — the kind of stubborn, contact-obsessed approach that made him a fan favorite in the first place.
Â
It showed up loudly on August 7 against the Chicago White Sox, when he ripped a ball down the right-field line that clanged off the foul pole for his second home run of the season — a pull-side shot that Kwan himself has said is one of the clearest signs he's locked in at the plate.
Â
None of this should be surprising to anyone who followed him at Oregon State. Kwan's college career was basically a resurgence story in miniature. As a freshman Beaver in 2016, he struggled to find his footing — hitting just .215 in 35 games.
Â
By his sophomore year he was hitting .331, and as a junior in 2018 he broke out fully, batting .355/.463/.457 while hitting leadoff ahead of future big leaguers Nick Madrigal, Trevor Larnach, and Adley Rutschman.
Â
That 2018 team went on to win Oregon State's third national championship in program history, with Kwan starring throughout the postseason. Cleveland liked what it saw enough to take him in the fifth round of the 2018 draft.
Â
That pattern — a slow start followed by a deliberate, almost stubborn climb to peak form — has essentially repeated itself at the highest level. Kwan has been cautious about declaring himself fully "back," but the underlying numbers, and the quality of his at-bats, tell a clear story: the disciplined, opposite-field-hitting table-setter Cleveland has relied on for four years is not just back — he might be better than ever.
Wednesday, August 05
Wednesday, August 05
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