SAN FRANCISCO – Much of the novelty and innovation has worn off for Steven Kwan.
His unstoppable debut for the Cleveland Guardians last season? Those 19 times he reached base in his first six games? The much-ballyhooed statistical observation that he saw 116 pitches before he swung and missed, which is the most of any player to start his career in at least two decades? All of that is just part of his Wikipedia page now. He settled into his second season as the Guardians’ leadoff hitter and started at left fielder – a position he played so well that he almost passed the field in Defensive Runs Saved. Last year, he was the second hardest hitter in the American League in strikeouts. This year, with Luis Arraez leaving the National League, he tops the rankings.
Kwan’s expertise continues to translate. He proved that he was his. He’s just a workaday big leaguer now, keeping his head down and sticking to his routine and treating ballparks down the road with all the tired business of a sales convention.
Until Monday night. That’s when he played his first major league game in San Francisco. And everything is new again.
“Oh my gosh, just hearing (PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon) say my name and seeing my face on the scoreboard, that was one of those moments that really gave me chills and put everything into perspective, ” said Kwan. “I think it’s easy to get desensitized during the year, being in the ballpark and traveling in big cities, but this is one of those where, like, I get the little tingles and the butterflies again, which feels great. “
Kwan, who graduated from Washington High in Fremont, Calif., had almost no unusual experience. The Bay Area has produced major leaguers by the dozen. He was the first visiting player to coast to second base, exchange pleasantries with Brandon Crawford, and drop an “I watched you grow up” to him. But Kwan’s roots are in San Francisco. His father, Ray, was a second-generation American who grew up in San Francisco near the intersection of Mason and Jackson streets, a block from the cable car barn and museum.
“The house shakes every 20 minutes,” said Ray Kwan.
Ray Kwan grew up going to Giants games at Candlestick Park, often scoring tickets from a cousin as a reward for good grades. His wife, Jane, grew up a Giants fan in Sunnyvale, Calif. Some of their fondest family memories include taking their sons, Steven and Ryan, and daughter Christine, to games at the Giants’ waterfront ballpark. Garlic fries are an integral part of the experience. Steven would forage for clam chowder in a bread bowl from the stands behind the center field scoreboard. There was a time when former Giant Rich Aurilia was sitting in an adjacent row and Steven posed for a photo with him.
Steven never stayed in his seat for any length of time. He marveled at the fan zone at the base of the Coke bottle slide above the left field bleachers. He and Ryan would hit Wiffle balls in the children’s playground. Then they wait their turn to throw their hardest for the radar gun.
Steven Kwan is a 5-foot-9, 170-pound big leaguer. So you can imagine how big he is for an 8 year old.
“I’m just happy to hit the catcher’s mitt, but the whole staff is super supportive,” he said. “They make me feel like I’m rejecting it.”
They don’t have to pretend. Steven usually places himself on the leaderboard for his age group.
“That was the biggest thrill — checking back every inning to see if somebody beat you,” he said. “If you have the fastest throw in the seventh inning, you have a baseball card. That, it seems, is a great achievement. “
Now 26 years old, Kwan’s eyes still light up when he remembers winning those cards. He got Shea Hillenbrand one time, Ryan Garko another. It doesn’t matter that the players aren’t franchise stars with the Giants. In a sense, those cards were his first pieces of validation in what would become a high-achieving career that led him to Oregon State and pro ball.
Kwan delivered a predictable result in the seventh inning of Monday night’s 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Guardians. Giants right-hander John Brebbia had an 0-2 count on him and tried to beat him with a 95 mph fastball over the top of the zone. Kwan hit a hard groundball to center field for an RBI single that tied the game. When he jogged to left field in the bottom of the inning, the fans in the bleachers were all over him.
“They definitely made me feel it, which was funny, because I remember one day game I had tickets there and the fans were booing the left fielder,” Kwan said. “I thought it was the funniest thing ever. And now being on the other end of that is definitely something to experience. “
Kwan’s cheering section here at Oracle Park was much more modest than last year’s first visit to Oakland, which came just weeks into his rookie season while still treating him like a national sensation.
“It’s all more normal now,” Jane Kwan said. “But we still get nervous when he’s at bat. You are always nervous as a mother.”
If there was any disappointment, it was fellow Oregon State product and Giants rookie Wade Meckler not here after being sent down to Triple A earlier this month. Meckler is a contact-hitting grinder who has to overcome similar doubts because of his size. When Kwan first arrived at Oregon State, he was so unsure of his place that he took a two-month break and talked to a sports psychologist. He went on to hit .355 while leading the Beavers to a national championship in 2018. The year after Kwan began his pro career, Meckler arrived as a redshirt freshman. And Kwan was held up to him as proof of concept.
When Kwan returns to Corvallis, Ore., to work with his former teammates and Beavers hitting coach Tyler Graham, Meckler often enters the cage next to him.
“I always ask for him,” Kwan said. “We are the same type of player. And he’s hurt his hamstring a few times, which is something I’ve had to deal with as well. So I was able to advise him about that. I could tell right away that the man was grinding. If you say something to him, he will throw it on the ground until he gets it.”
Kwan remembers hosting a house party one night with a bunch of current and former Oregon State players when Meckler showed up late.
“I want to say 1:30, maybe 2 in the morning, we were all together, talking about anything, playing,” Kwan said. “And Wade came in and you could tell he had something on his mind that hit earlier in the day.”
Meckler has a TAP ball cradled between his elbow and ribs – a training aid to help maintain posture and body position during athletic movements.
“And you look and he’s in the corner that TAP ball feels a (swing) load that he worked on earlier in the day, just repeating it,” Kwan said. “A few guys were making fun of him, like, ‘Wade, what are you doing?’ Wade was like, ‘T-Graham told me I had to get 100 of these to really notice this feeling.’ I can’t believe it. I think that was the first time I said to myself, ‘Wow, this guy is serious about cutting.'”
Kwan looks forward to the day he and Meckler can face each other in a big league game. For now, there are plenty of other moments and memories running through this series to appreciate the Cleveland left fielder’s visit.
Before he leaves town, Kwan hopes to reenact one more experience. He made questions about sliding the Coke bottle one more time. He was disappointed to learn that the Giants no longer allow visitors over the age of 14 to use the slide. Have a case or two, and you never know how much an adult should drink. But they might make an exception. It’s not like Kwan will try to do anything and strike out.
Besides, he more than meets the required height.
(Photo of Kwan collecting his RBI hit on Monday: Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)