This is not an overreaction; Steven Kwan should be a Rookie of the Year contender

Cleveland Guardians Steven Kwan showed just how good he was this weekend.

If you’re a Cleveland Guardians fan, you should get really comfy with Steven Kwan. The rookie’s historic opening weekend isn’t sustainable, but you really shouldn’t be that surprised. After all, Kwan is a name I’ve been talking about for some time, and now he’s a name everyone should be well aware of; because yes, he’s the way-too-freaking-early Rookie of the Year contender for the American League.

Kwan isn’t going to rock a batting average of .692 all year, or an on-base percentage of .789 all year. That’s highly unlikely. No, he’ll likely drop to around the .300 range on his batting average and probably in the mid-.400’s for his OPB.

Still, those are going to be huge numbers for Kwan. Yet, it’s baseball. The most unpredictable sport in the world, how can I make such a proclamation that a rookie, four games into his career, can put up near All-Star averages?

Simple; it’s all he does.

Steven Kwan dominating a baseball is old hat by now for Guardian fans.

If you’re a Cleveland Guardians fan that goes deep into the sport as I do, you probably watch the minors or at the very least, keep up to date with them. If you are like me, you’ve known about Kwan for some time now.

Since 2013, Kwan’s sophomore year in high school, the 24-year-old outfielder has only hit under .300 twice. Three times if you include his freshmen year in high school. His career batting average in college? .329. His career batting average in the minors? .301.

His career on-base percentage across both college and the minors? .403. He has a whopping 137 strikeouts, in 1,440 at-bats. For comparison, Bobby Bradley had 818 strikeouts in 2,505 plate appearances. That’s 8% of the time Kwan strikes out, compared to Bradley’s 25%.

He also has the ability to get on base, with 201 walks in his plate appearances.

He’s not a home run threat by any means but he’s the kind of guy that will just keep hitting and getting on base. That’s far more reliable than a guy like Bradley or Franmil Reyes, who have more career strikeouts than they have career hits.

You don’t win games with the occasional home runs. You win games with guys who can get on base. Don’t blink, Kwan’s going to be a guy that all fans should really be paying attention to.