April 12, 2022

Steven Kwan: On Base 15 Times In His First Four MLB Games
He Also Has Not Swung And Missed This Season (82 Pitches)

Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan has played four major league games – and he is doing quite well.

.692 / .789 / 1.000 . . . 1.789 OPS

He's 9-for-13, with six runs scored, three RBI, two doubles, a (bases-loaded) triple, and five walks (at least one in each game). His OPS+ is 415!

(Note: Kwan does not lead the AL slugging. Byron Buxton does (1.067). He's 5-for-15 with three home runs and two doubles. His first three hits of the season were dongs.)

In 19 plate appearances, Kwan has made a grand total of four outs. He's had a streak of reaching base in nine consecutive plate appearances. Kwan has set a major league record yesterday by reaching base 15 times in his first four games. (The old record was 13, held by several players, including the immortal Fern Bell.) The day before, he became the first player to reach base 12 times in his first three games.

Kwan, 24, has reached base at least three times in each of his four games. That is also a major league record.

G1 0407: 63   BB   BB   1B               1-for- 2, on base  3-for- 4
G2 0409: BB   3U   1B   2B               2-for- 3, on base  3-for- 4
G3 0410: 1B   1B   1B   1B   HP   2B     5-for- 5, on base  6-for- 6
G4 0411: BB   P2   13   BB   3B          1-for- 3, on base  3-for- 5
                                         9-for-13, on base 15-for-19

He went 5-for-5 in Game #3, last Sunday, becoming the sixth player to record a five-hit game within his first three MLN games. The others: Judge McCredie (1903), Jack Dalton (1910), Red Massey (1918), Cecil Travis (1933), and Yermín Mercedes (2021).

That big day also gave him an .800 batting average, which tied Mercedes for the highest average ever after three games. (All of these various records are "since at least 1901".)

Kwan has also not swung and missed at a pitch this season. In 19 plate appearances, he has seen 82 pitches and swung at 26 of them. He has got his bat on all of them. (He also did not strike out – not even once – in spring training, in 34 trips to the plate. He batted .469.) Last season, he hit .328/.407/.527 (AA and AA combined), with more walks than strikeouts.

"I'm afraid I'm going to wake up very soon," Kwan said.

2 comments:

allan said...

Fern Bell is, of course, an outfielder on the All-Plant Team.
Weedy Edwards
Tyler Flowers
Bob Seeds

Zenslinger said...

Kyle Garlick (Twins OF)