Steven Kwan, amid hot streak, might retake leadoff spot for Guardians

CLEVELAND — After a two-month hiatus, Steven Kwan might be reclaiming the top spot in the Guardians lineup, the same one he occupied for the better part of four years.

That was until Kwan opened the 2026 season in the worst extended stretch at the plate of his professional career. As it dragged on, manager Stephen Vogt finally pulled Kwan from the everyday leadoff spot on May 16.

Since that time, Kwan, a two-time All-Star who had been Sharpie’d into the top spot in the order since around the time he made his MLB debut to open the 2022 season, had been mostly relegated to the bottom third of the lineup.

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He finally might have done enough to again see his name atop the lineup on an everyday basis, if some positive trends continue.

“Been really proud of Kwani,” Vogt said before the Guardians’ July 20 game against the Minnesota Twins. “He and I have had some really hard conversations this year, and just anytime you’re moving somebody in the order or you’re taking somebody a little bit out of the role they’re used to, it can go one of two ways. And he’s chosen to take the challenge and [run] with it.”

Through June 22, Kwan was hitting .206 with a .321 on-base percentage and a .572 OPS. He had maintained his elite metrics when it comes to making contact and controlling the strike zone — his whiff percentage is in the 100th percentile, as it has been for three years, and his chase percentage is actually better in 2026 than it was in 2025. But the hard contact had dipped, and his numbers cratered.

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Since June 23? He’s been back to Kwan circa 2022-2025. In a 21-game span entering July 20, Kwan was hitting .369 with a .438 OPS and a .915 OPS. He posted a 163 wRC+ over that time period — only 15 hitters in the major leagues had been better.

Kwan hit a combined 25 home runs in 2024 and 2025, adding an element of power on top of his game, which had been supported with elite levels of strike zone control, contact and defense in the outfield.

Over the last few weeks, he’s largely gotten back to a scaled-down approach — closer to earlier in his career — while trying to keep his launch angle down a bit. And, with it, he’s returned to being one of the most difficult outs in the game, albeit with a small sample size.

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Through June 22, he had a line drive percentage of 21.9. Since June 23, that’s up to 39.3. He’s also driving the ball to the opposite field more — 40 percent since June 23, up from 29.8 percent before then.

“[It was an issue with] just bad angles,” Kwan said after Travis Bazzana’s walk-off home run July 18. “Travis actually just talked to me earlier. It’s like when he came up [to the majors in May], I was hitting the ball just as hard, but it was fly balls to left. And now I’m hitting the ball with the same exit velos, they’re just lower now.

“I’m just trying to keep it simple, trying to go back to what worked before — ball flight, just keeping it low.”

Bazzana, as a rookie, had been slotted into the leadoff spot with Kwan sliding to the bottom as the latter tried to rediscover a spark. Kwan was again in the leadoff spot July 19 against the Pittsburgh Pirates and July 20 against the Twins. It doesn’t mean he’s back there permanently, but now that the positive results are starting to follow, Vogt might have some additional options with how to configure the top of the order.

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“You have conversations and you remind them, just go be yourself,” Vogt said, discussing how players handle moving to a different spot in the order and the very real human element that comes with it. “I think, however many games that is, we’ve had probably that many lineups. We change the lineup quite often around here. So guys are used to it. … We are constantly talking about it.”

The Guardians certainly are in need of Kwan’s production to be where it remained before 2026 with Jose Ramirez (hamate bone) and Angel Martinez (foot) still sidelined. The lineup has been occasionally doing enough to keep the team’s standing in the AL Central afloat, but it’s often been a struggle.

Kwan isn’t even fully buying into it yet. But, for the time being, the Guardians might have their leadoff hitter back as they know him.

“I don’t want to fall in love with a small sample size, like, yeah, it’s three weeks, but baseball can flip on a dime,” Kwan said. “So I’m taking the scouting reports really seriously, keeping everything simple. That’s the biggest thing. But right now, it feels good.”

If he can remain in this zone, Vogt might be able to take out the Sharpie again.

Ryan Lewis covers the Guardians for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Steven Kwan, amid hot streak, might retake leadoff spot for Guardians