Steven Kwan goes 5-for-6 in doubleheader

No surprise as Kwan will be spared from having to face Tigers ace Tarik Skubal. That honor goes to Stuart Fairchild instead. The 28-year-old has put together an abysmal season overall, but he went 2-for-4 with an RBI during Friday’s series opener and is hitting .281 (9-for-32) in nine games since returning from bereavement leave earlier this month.

Kwan has completely collapsed with the bat, so it’s time to find new and more interesting ways to reach base. Alas, catcher’s interference doesn’t help with his OBP. He’s still at a respectable .323 there, but he’s batting .213 and slugging .262. He tried a squeeze bunt tonight, but the pitcher got to it quickly and was able to tag the runner coming down base line. His current hard-hit rate is 8.5 percent. Of course, that’s never been a strength of his, but it’s still less than half of his career mark of 20.4%. To put it in perspective, the only player in the Statcast era to qualify for the batting title and finish with a sub-11 percent hard-hit rate was Billy Hamilton, who came in at 8.5 percent in 2018.

Kwan returns to Cleveland’s lineup, patrolling left field and hitting seventh on Tuesday night against the Yankees, after being away from the club for a couple games on bereavement leave. The 28-year-old has struggled to an underwhelming .207/.329/.259 triple-slash line with 25 runs scored, one homer, 12 RBI and two steals in 234 plate appearances over 54 games.

Kwan is expected to miss at least the team’s weekend series against the Red Sox. The Guardians will announce a corresponding roster move prior to Friday’s series opener.

According to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel, Kwan has been dropped from Cleveland’s leadoff spot for the first time since June 18, 2022. The 28-year-old outfielder has been scuffling this season as a massive decline in average exit velocity has led to a disastrous .201/.308/.258 slash line with one homer and two steals in 187 plate appearances through 42 games. He went 0-for-4 during Friday’s series opener. It’ll be Daniel Schneemann taking over atop manager Stephen Vogt’s lineup card. The hope for fantasy managers is that the move sparks something and Kwan is able to revert to form. His lengthy track record suggests that he’ll turn things around, but the underlying batted ball metrics are alarming so far.

Kwan continues to struggle this season, slashing .206/.311/.265. His hard-hit rate is down to 9.5 percent, and his average exit velocity has fallen to 82.4 mph. He’s still making a tremendous amount of contact and not chasing outside of the zone at all; however, he may be too passive overall. Kwan’s swing rate has fallen by six percent, and he’s swinging at pitches in the heart of the strike zone almost eight percent less than last year while taking four percent more called strikes overall. This feels like the same hitters we’ve come to know but just one whose being too passive and second-guessing himself. We expect Kwan to snap out of his funk, but for Wednesday, David Fry will play left field and bat fifth.

Kwan also went 0-for-4 on Sunday, so he’s back down to .217/.311/.279 for the season. He’ll surely get that average up in time, but he might not do well enough in any other category to be more than a fringe fantasy outfielder.

Kwan was a late scratch from Saturday’s lineup due to stiffness in his neck, it appears to have been only a minor issue though. He’s back in center field and perched atop the Guardians’ lineup for Sunday’s matchup against Jays’ left-hander Patrick Corbin.

Angel Martínez takes over in center field and will hit leadoff on Saturday afternoon in his place. It sounds like a precautionary move since Kwan also sat out Friday’s series opener, but was in Saturday’s initial lineup. The 28-year-old outfielder is hitting .227/.315/.289 with one homer, eight RBI and two steals in 25 games. There should be some additional clarity on his status at some point this weekend. Fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day for now.

It’s Kwan’s first missed start of the season, as he’d played at least seven innings in each of Cleveland’s first 25 games. He’s hitting .227/.315/.289 in the early going and hasn’t had a multi-hit game since April 16. Angel Martinez is in left field for the Guardians tonight against RHP Max Scherzer.