Steven

Kwan

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.

Kwan smacked an RBI single off of Shane Baz in the fifth inning that increased the Guardians’ lead to 3-0. The 28-year-old outfielder is now hitting .253/.325/.333 with one homer, seven RBI, two stolen bases and a 9/7 K/BB ratio over his first 84 plate appearances on the season.

Kwan will get a breather against southpaw Chris Sale and the Atlanta staff. Angel Martinez moves up to the leadoff spot in Kwan’s absence and play left field. It’s Kwan’s first off-day of the season, and likely one of the last.

Kwan’s homer left the bat at 100.8 mph for just his second hard-hit ball in 47 plate appearances this season. His previous one barely clearled the threshold at 95.8 mph. Of course, Kwan has never been known for his hard-hit rates, but he’s been losing athleticism since the day he entered the league and it’s actually quite odd that the Guardians have decided this was the time to turn to him as a center fielder (he debuted with 80th percentile sprint speed in 2022, but he was down to 45th percentile last year and is in the 32nd percentile so far this season). His fantasy value would also seem to be trending downwards.

Kwan is still without a hard-hit ball in 22 at-bats this year, but he has mustered seven hits anyway. With his bat speed and his foot speed decreasing, he’s likely past his peak both for the Guardians and as a fantasy outfielder. Still, he should offer some mixed-league value anyway,

Kwan hasn’t started a regular season game in center field since his rookie year. He slid to that spot exactly one time last season and played there a good bit during spring training ahead of this season, hinting that this was something the Guardians were considering. He’s an exceptional outfielder so there’s no reason to think he can’t be at least passable there. Kwan playing center will open up left field for CJ Kayfus in this game as the Guardians try to get some more thump in their lineup.

The 33-year-old slugger is expected to be a regular against left-handed pitching for the Guardians, but he’s in there against a right-hander as well on Opening night. If he’s able to stay healthy and regain his power stroke, he could wind up providing some mixed league viability. Here’s the full lineup that manager Stephen Vogt will use against Logan Gilbert and the M’s on Thursday: Steven Kwan (LF), Chase DeLauter (RF), Jose Ramirez (3B), Kyle Manzardo (DH), Bo Naylor (C), Rhys Hoskins (1B), Daniel Schneemann (CF), Gabriel Arias (SS) and Brayan Rocchio (2B).

Kwan had totaled two homers in 98 career spring training games prior to today, when he took Ryan Bergert and Nick Mears deep in back-to-back at-bats. The 28-year-old appeared to be a likely choice to replace Corbin Carroll on Team USA’s WBC roster before Roman Anthony got the nod instead. He’s 6-for-21 this spring.