How resurgent Kwan turned his 2026 season around

This story was excerpted from Tim Stebbins’ Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And *subscribe* to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEVELAND -- As Steven Kwan was careening toward a career-worst season earlier this year, the questions began to echo around his head.

Was Kwan getting older? Was his eye at the plate starting to slip? Had the league figured him out? Was he no longer the leadoff man capable of hitting .300?

Kwan’s numbers through three months were among the worst in baseball. The two-time All-Star’s struggles led to a demotion from atop the Guardians’ lineup, as a reprieve while he tried to find his form. All the while, he dealt with an internal struggle at a time laden with insecurity.

“You fight the struggle of, ‘OK, it doesn't really feel like anything's changed that badly, but clearly nothing is working right now,’” Kwan said. “You basically have to shrug off all of those doubts inside and just try to figure out how you can get better, how you can help contribute.”

Kwan came out the other side. He entered Monday leading the American League in fWAR (3.0) since July 1, and his season-wide bWAR (4.8) is his highest since 2022. His reemergence is a major reason why the Guardians entered this week’s crucial three-game series against the White Sox with an opportunity to win a third consecutive AL Central title.

In 78 games through June, Kwan had a .212/.318/.257 slash line. In 63 games since, it’s .355/.441/.449.

“You want baseball to be this merit-based kind of thing, where you work hard, you get good results. If you slack off, you don't get the results you want,” Kwan said. “This made me feel proud because I stuck to my routines. I tried to be a good person every day.”

The path to this turnaround required Kwan looking inward, in multiple ways.

Consistent routines provided Kwan a base each day, even when results weren’t following. Mentally, it was important for him to contextualize things. His profession is a privilege. Baseball isn’t life or death. Going back to 2025, he talked to himself about detaching, but perhaps didn’t do a good job of it.

For a time this season, Kwan’s struggles hurt his identity. He recalled the Guardians’ trip to Houston in June, when he felt embarrassed not playing well alongside Astros shortstop Jeremy Peña, his peer as a fellow member of his 2018 Draft class.

“Those were all vain things that I had to let go of and just be like, ‘What's really important right now?'" Kwan said. “It's my family, my loved ones, and past that, obviously, I'm living my dream. But you kind of just have to take it for what it is and just put it in perspective.”

Kwan’s wife, Samantha, was there for him on his tough nights and helped him keep perspective. Learning to let go was one piece of the puzzle. Another was understanding what got him to the Majors in the first place.

Kwan has an elite contact ability and a keen eye for the strike zone. Tapping into his pull-side power in 2024 culminated in a career-high 14 home runs. After a subpar second half of ‘25 (.655 OPS), he worked in the offseason on increasing his bat speed to get back to that blueprint from two years ago.

It wasn’t working. Pitchers this season were peppering Kwan with pitches up and away. He tried to get to his pull side, but consistent low-production laden with weak fly balls, pop outs and foul outs to the opposite field was demoralizing.

“I was just being a complete liability,” Kwan said. “It just was like, ‘How am I going to help the team?’”

Kwan went back to the well. He honed in on working the count, taking what pitchers were giving him and putting the ball in play around the diamond. He went back to his 2022 blueprint. The result?

Kwan leads the Majors in batting average (.355) and on-base percentage (.441) since July 1. He had a 13.2% walk rate over the same span, and on the season is set to log a new career high (12.9%). This has all come while he's played his customary elite defense in left and center field.

Kwan’s poor production could have defined his season. Instead, he went to work and didn’t bring his poor performance into the clubhouse.

“He was the same exact person every day,” manager Stephen Vogt said last month. “He was not himself [offensively], and his demeanor never changed. His attitude never changed.”

It’s something Kwan learned from former teammate Lane Thomas, who was limited to 39 games in 2025 due to injuries, including a nagging case of plantar fasciitis. Kwan recalled how Thomas remained a great teammate in a tough season.

Kwan aimed to follow that example. As he looks back on this season, he hopes how he handled his experience can now be an example to other players.

“That was the thing I was the most proud of,” Kwan said. “If there was a right way to do it, I think I did it the right way.”