USATSI
Cleveland Guardians rookie outfielder Steven Kwan made history against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday by scoring five in his third career game.
Kwan, whose afternoon was part of a larger offensive spurt by the Guardians in which they hit 17 runs, became the fifth player since World War II to have a five-hit contest in his first five big league games. He joins a group that includes Yermin Mercedes (who made it with the Chicago White Sox last season), Gregory Polanco (2014), Mike Lansing (1993) and John Wehner (1991). Kwan also reached base on Sunday by being hit by a pitch.
Kwan played into midfield in the first inning. In the second he went left. He then completed the hat trick by single to the right in the third. He hit an infield single in the fifth inning and was hit by the aforementioned pitch in the seventh. Coming up one last time in the eighth round, Kwan hit a double to the right to round out his afternoon.
Kwan was one of CBS Sports’ breakout picks prior to the season. Here was the explanation:
Kwan isn’t for everyone, but he’s an intriguing prospect who should get a shot in the Cleveland outfield. Splitting between double- and triple-A’s last season, he hit .328/.407/.527 with 12 homers and five walks more than strikeouts. Despite this impressive production rate, it has not progressed on most prospect lists (with the exception of Eric Longenhagens at FanGraphs) due to concerns about translatability. Kwan is on the smaller side (he’s listed at 5’9) and had rarely shown excessive strength until last year. (His 12 homers was a new career high.) We’ve related the Sam Fuld-Brett Gardner spectrum to similar players before — fielders who lack pop while showing good contact and good shots on base — and it hits For this; There’s a chance big league pitchers, feeling unthreatened, will hit him with strikes, compromising his control of the strike zone and reducing his offensive power. Kwan’s supporters cite his unreal hit-to-ball abilities (in terms of making contacts and bat-crunching) and increased juice as reasons to believe he can make it work. Non-believers believe he’s likely a fourth or fifth fielder. We won’t know which side was right for a while, but it’s not every day you come across such an interesting non-top prospect.
Kwan competed on Sunday after scoring three in his first eight trips to the plate. He’d also run three times, giving him a nice .600/.750/.800 slash in an extremely small sample.