Steven Kwan is human after all. Wednesday, the Guardians rookie swung and missed for the first time in his MLB career, whiffing on an 81-mph curveball thrown by left-hander Nick Lodolo, who was making his major-league debut for the Reds (foul tips are technically considered misses).
Kwan, who entered Wednesday leading all of baseball with a .667 average through five games (10-for-15), went 116 pitches without missing, the longest streak ever to begin a career.
Before Lodolo caught him looking for strike three (a 1-2 sinker would be his undoing), the 24-year-old had gone 76 plate appearances without striking out dating back to September of last season when he was still slumming it in the minors with Triple-A Columbus. Rated as the 15th-best prospect in Cleveland’s farm system, Kwan has been one of the season’s biggest surprises, becoming the first player in over a century to reach base 15 times in his first four games.
Selected in the fifth round of the 2018 draft following a standout career at Oregon State, the 5’9” outfielder earned his big-league promotion on the heels of a dominant spring training, batting an absurd .469 over 16 Grapefruit League appearances (32 at-bats). As his diminutive, 170-pound frame would suggest, Kwan doesn’t offer much in the way of power (15 homers in 947 minor-league plate appearances), though whatever he lacks in that department, the Fremont, California native more than makes up for with his ability to make contact.
Kwan went 0-for-4 with a walk and an RBI in Wednesday’s matinee at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, snapping his hit streak at five games. Meanwhile, the Guardians have won four straight since stumbling out of the gate with consecutive losses to the Royals in their opening-week series at Kansas City.
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