With increased bat speed, Kwan looks poised to take off at plate

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- In the first inning on Saturday against the Padres, Steven Kwan hit a Michael King changeup to the left-center field gap. The line drive (which had a 99.2 mph exit velocity) touched down and got by diving center fielder Bryce Johnson, resulting in a triple.

“That was a great signal for us,” Guardians assistant hitting coach Dan Puente said. “It's been some time since he’s driven that ball to that part of the field. Most of the damage has come to the pull side.”

It was proof of concept to the work Puente and Kwan did together over the offseason, which included a focus on enhancing the Guardians’ outfielder’s bat speed. Or, as Kwan -- who went 1-for-3 in Tuesday afternoon’s 5-4 loss to the Giants at Goodyear Ballpark -- put it, going “back to the well.”

Kwan did not have the season he wanted offensively in 2025. He was slowed by a right wrist issue after making an awkward slide into second base in late May. He got a cortisone shot during the All-Star break that helped his wrist feel 100 percent, but his production dipped as the season progressed while he struggled to find the feel in his swing.

Over 156 games, Kwan slashed .272/.330/.374. His .704 OPS and 96 OPS+ each marked new career lows.

“I didn’t have this North Star or this compass to lead myself back to,” Kwan said. “I think that was a little naive of me to just be like, ‘Oh, I know my swing and I know how to get there.’ ... I didn’t have enough knowledge on my swing as I should have.”

Kwan’s wrist is in a good place this spring, and the feel in his swing is back. But he was not going to rest on those factors improving alone heading into 2026. He went through a program with Puente this winter to increase his bat speed -- which ranked in the 1st percentile last season (63.7 mph).

A bat speed program entails swinging a heavier bat until a hitter’s body grows accustomed to it, switching to a light bat afterward, and then back to a regular bat. The idea behind the program is simple: With a higher bat speed floor, a player has a greater chance of batted balls getting through the infield or landing in the outfield when they don’t get their best swing off.

“He does a lot of things already super well,” Puente said. “He makes tons of contact. The whiff rate is really, really, really low. He's elite, elite, elite at that. So how can we maximize his strengths, but also bring up some of those areas where he's not as strong?”

For a hitter like Kwan, a higher bat speed floor can be crucial. As Puente alluded to, Kwan had the second-highest contact rate in the Majors (91.3 percent) in 2025, among hitters with at least 1,000 swings, behind only Luis Arraez (94.7).

Kwan said his bat speed this winter peaked a bit higher than where it was heading into 2024. That season, Kwan flirted with hitting .400 in the first half, and he ultimately slashed .292/.368/.425 over 122 games missing time with a left hamstring strain and mid-back inflammation. Kwan’s final figures in 2025 were at least somewhat circumstantial, but his work with Puente could break a bit of a trend.

“What we stumbled upon was,” Kwan said, “in an offseason where I’m trying to be like, ‘OK, I had a good year. Let’s stay there. Let’s be consistent.’ The year after was kind of rockier than I would have liked. Whereas, if I had a year I didn’t like, it’s like, ‘OK, we need to build off of this. We need to gain some steps here.’ Those end up being really good offseasons.”

Count this winter as one of those offseasons.

Kwan belted a pair of home runs in Monday’s 6-2 win over the Royals, and he’s hitting .292 (7-for-24) with a 1.060 OPS this spring. Cactus League results are not predictive of regular season results, but we know what Kwan is capable of.

With the work Kwan put in this winter, it’s intriguing to think about what his regular season could look like.

“Kwany is such a hard worker,” Puente said. “He's such a tremendous worker, super intelligent. He's always partnering with us, trying to be the best version of himself.”