How Steven Kwan’s Absence Has Affected the Cleveland Guardians.
Recently Guardians left-fielder Steven Kwan was sidelined with a hamstring injury after making defensive play. He may not be able to return until early June. This has left some big shoes to fill as he is the lead-off hitter, has the best batting average in the American League (.353), and has the most hits of any player on the Guardians this season with 47. Jose Ramirez is second with 41 hits. This is the second major injury that Cleveland has had to deal with this season as star pitcher Shane Bieber had to have a season-ending Tommy John surgery in April.
Centerfielder and second baseman Tyler Freeman has had the most time filling in as the lead-off batter. Freeman had been hitting between sixth and eighth in the order before Kwan’s injury. For the year Freeman has a .193 batting average, 23 hits, four home runs, 21 runs, 13 RBIs, and five stolen bases. In his past five games, he’s had 16 at-bats, three hits (.187), four runs, one home run, one RBI, and three strikeouts.
Manager Stephen Vogt said, “It’s not one person needs to come in and replace him… …Similar to the pitching when we lost Biebs, the guys have stepped up.”
When writing this article, Cleveland has gone 5-4 since Kwan has been out of the lineup. Most of those losses came in the series against the Chicago White Sox. The Guardians lost three in a row before securing a win on the fourth game of the series. Cleveland is 4-3 in games against Chicago this season and has three more series yet to go. Having a player like Kwan who can reliably get on base could have been crucial in some games this last series. One game was lost by one run and another by two. Even after missing nine games, Kwan leads the team in runs with 28 (Ramirez is second with 27). One baserunner could mean the difference between winning and losing.
The Cleveland Guardians are far from giving up hope and, as Vogt said, they have stepped up in Kwan’s absence. They managed to take home the last win against the White Sox 7-0 and scored seven runs in the two games after winning 7-0 and 7-4 against the Texas Rangers. Cleveland is fortunate to have other hitters who have been able to step up when needed as well. Josh Naylor has had four hits and two home runs in his last five games. Jose Ramirez and Andres Gimenez each have five hits and one home run in their previous five games.
