Guardians left fielder Steven Kwan is now entering his fourth MLB season and the 27 year old is poised for a big year. Coming off of his first AL All-Star campaign in which he slashed .292/.368/.425 with 14 home runs, 44 RBI and 83 runs scored in 122 games played, he should turn some heads in 2025.
At BetMGM, you can back him to lead the MLB in hits at +1100 and I think that’s a logical option for one main reason: the new pitch challenge system. Over the last three seasons, no left-handed hitter has been victimized by out-of-zone pitches called strikes more than Kwan. In fact, it hasn’t even been close.
That’s right, no lefty hitter has come within 58 missed calls of him.
With elite plate discipline and contact skills, Kwan put the ball in play in 429 of 480 plate appearances last season, which is astounding considering the pitches that were called strikes against him.
Not only that, but he hit a ridiculous .405 on 0-2 pitches, by far the best mark in the Majors.
With a 9.4% strikeout rate as a Major League hitter, Kwan’s 95.8% zone contact rate and 3.3% swinging strike rate through his young career are outstanding numbers and suggest that he’s going to be an elite contact hitter for many years to come. He’s also listed at +8000 to lead the Majors in runs scored, which is enticing.
While Luis Arraez (+600), Bobby Witt Jr. (+700) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (+1000) all have shorter odds to lead the MLB in hits than Kwan, I can see him leading the league in hits en route to his first batting championship, especially since he will now have a challenge system on his side that will presumably prevent unfair umpire calls that have limited his upside to this point.
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