Kwan is the son of Jane and Raymond Kwan. He has one brother, Ryan, and one sister, Christine.

In 2015, Steven graduated from Washington High School in Fremont, California. He hit .462 his senior year, collecting 10 doubles, 5 triples and 14 RBI.

Kwan chose a baseball scholarship to Oregon State, majoring in business.

In 2017, he hit .304/.381/.342 in 26 games in the Cape Cod League.

Steven enjoys dodgeball, wiffle ball and snowboarding in his spare time.

His favorite athlete is Buster Posey.  His favorite move is "Benchwarmers."

June 2018: The Indians chose Kwan in the 5th round, out of Oregon State University. Steven signed for an under-slot $185,000 via scout Conor Glassey, with slot being $303,400.

In 2022, the Baseball America Prospect Handbook rated Kwan as the 27th-best prospect in the Guardians system.

April 9, 2022: Steven Kwan may be everything the Guardians have been searching for over the last few seasons. The problem is, the team needs more than one spark in its lineup to start to see success.

Kwan has been in the Majors for all of two games and has already captured the heart of the fans with his plate discipline, bat-to-ball skills, baserunning and defense—all of which were on full display in Cleveland’s 1-0 extra-inning loss to Kansas City at Kauffman Stadium.

Aside from the strong pitching the Guardians have received thus far, Kwan has been the lone source of optimism this season. It’s only been two games, which is a ridiculously small sample size, but in a time when some could easily get overwhelmed by the jump to the big leagues, Kwan has demonstrated each of the tools that the organization has raved about throughout his Minor League career, showing why it’s easy to believe he can have a successful career in the Majors.

Let’s take a look at the tools we’ve seen from Kwan far:

–Plate discipline. Kwan admitted after Opening Day that his heart was racing as he stepped into the batter’s box for the first time as a Major Leaguer. He said it felt like he was floating, as he was officially accomplishing a dream he started to fantasize about as a kid. Yet somehow, his approach at the plate gave off the impression he had been in the Majors for years. He watched the first pitch go by for a ball before grounding out in his first big league at-bat.

In his second plate appearance, he demonstrated patience, watching five pitches to earn a free pass to first base. That’s when it truly set in that he knew he belonged here. “That just kind of got me back in that mode that this is the same game and I have great guys around me saying that same thing,” Kwan said. “I’m really happy that they can help me along that way.”

From there, he kept cruising. He drew another walk, logged a ninth-inning single (his first Major League hit), and earned a quick move up in the order, getting penciled into the two-spot in the lineup. Once again, he wasn’t rattled, as he added another walk, single and double to his stats sheet.

–Bat-to-ball skills. Kwan’s bat-to-ball skills may be the tool everyone within the organization has praised the most. The patience he displays at the plate is taken to a whole new level when breaking down how selective he is with the pitches he swings at. In each of his first two games, he’s seen 18 pitches—none of which induced a swing and a miss.

How has he been able to stay so calm? “Just not trying to let thoughts go too far,” Kwan said. “Just taking deep breaths in and out, just one at a time … and if things get too much, step out and reset and get back to it.”

–Baserunning. From the start of Spring Training, Guardians manager Terry Francona has emphasized the importance of baserunning for a team that could have some offensive struggles. He’s been adamant that they’ll have to play small ball and take the extra base each time they have an opportunity to. And that’s exactly what Kwan did.

A hit ball with an exit velocity of 92 mph and a launch angle of 15 degrees like Kwan had recently is a single 71.5% of the time, according to Baseball Savant. But Kwan chose to be in the group of 14.2% who are able to extend it to a double by not breaking stride right out of the box.

–Defense. The team is more than comfortable playing Kwan in all three outfield spots, but Francona said before the game, he’ll probably see the most time in left field. He proved pretty quickly that wasn’t a problem for him, flashing some leather to rob Whit Merrifield of a hit on a diving grab to his glove side.  (M Bell - MLB.com - April 9, 2022)

April 2022: Kwan became the first Cleveland hitter since Tyler Naquin in 2016 to win AL Rookie of the Month. Kwan hit .354 with five doubles, a triple, seven RBIs, 10 runs scored, nine walks and maintained a .459 on-base percentage between Opening Day and the end of April.

He reached base 18 times in his first five games, setting a record dating back to at least 1901. He also became the first player since at least 1901 to reach base at least three times in each of his first five career games.

Kwan joined Yermin Mercedes (2021) as the only hitters since 1933 with a five-hit day within their first three career games.

Showcasing the bat-to-ball skills that led to his promotion to the majors on Opening Day, Kwan didn't swing-and-miss in the first 115 pitches of his career, the longest streak without a swing-and-miss to start a career since 2000, according to Elias.  (Ryan Lewis - May 3, 2022)

One would never guess it to watch the way Kwan stands at the plate now with such poise and confidence, delivering clutch hit after clutch hit, but not long ago, the Guardians’ rookie phenom would get so nervous when batting he couldn’t concentrate properly.

Kwan, during a sit-down interview at his locker inside the Guardians’ clubhouse May 7 before Game 1 of a doubleheader with the Blue Jays at Progressive Field, said his issues surfaced when he was a freshman at Oregon State in 2016. He hit .215 over 35 games. He knew he was better than that.

“I had a lot of anxiety in the batter’s box,” Kwan said. “I’d get a rapid heart rate. I’d have trouble breathing.

“I went to one of my college coaches about it. He played in the big leagues as well. We kind of broke it down and just started working together on meditation. We did it as a team as well. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Kwan was referring to Tyler Graham. Graham played nine years of professional baseball, but his Major League career lasted just 10 games with the Diamondbacks in 2012. He batted twice without getting a hit, although he did score a run. He was retired on his only stolen base attempt.

Graham, an outfielder, played his college ball at Oregon State. He was selected by the Giants in the 19th round of the 2006 draft. He returned to his alma mater as an undergrad assistant with the Beavers’ baseball team in 2016 and 2017, which is when he hooked up with Kwan.

Whatever door Graham unlocked in Kwan’s mind, he must have found the right key, because Kwan hit .331 with the Beavers in 2017 and .365 the next year before the then-Indians picked him in the fifth round of the 2018 draft.

Because COVID forced cancellation of all minor-league baseball in 2020, Kwan essentially played only two seasons in the minor leagues before breaking training camp in April as the Guardians’ starting right fielder. He took a .328 batting average into the first game of the doubleheader with the Blue Jays on May 7.

Kwan was named AL Rookie of the Month for April when he hit .354 in 15 games. His single through the right side in the bottom of the 10th inning May 4, with runners on first and second and nobody out, drove in the winning run in a 6-5 victory over the Padres. One night later, he hit his first Major League home run when the Guardians edged Toronto, 6-5.

The home run was a big moment in Kwan’s early career, but the game-winning hit was bigger, not just because it won the game but because it showed Manager Terry Francona had enough confidence in Kwan to have him swing away rather than lay down a sacrifice bunt.

“He looked down and asked Sarby (third base coach Mike Sarbaugh) to repeat the signs,” Francona said. “He runs well enough where they shouldn’t be able to double him up. They were playing in for the bunt, so the idea is maybe he can slap one by somebody.”

Which is exactly what happened. Kwan did not try to knock down the outfield wall with a line drive. His ground ball got past Padres second baseman C.J. Adams. Owen Miller scored for the Guardians. Game over.

It was the first walk-off for the Guardians this season and the first of Kwan’s career. Kwan was mobbed by his teammates. The obligatory water bottle shower was part of the celebration.

“We’re a really young team, so a lot of the guys came up through the minors with me,” Kwan said May 7. “But also, the older guys have taken me under their wing, which I’m grateful for.

“You look around, we have some really good hitters. We play for each other. We’re a really tight-knit community. I think those three factors can equate to a good amount of wins.”  (By Jeff Schudel - May 7, 2022)

Aug. 30, 2022: Kwan has made a ton of history this season, becoming the first Cleveland rookie to have two on-base streaks of at least 18 games since Al Rosen in 1950. And he has reached base 177 times via a hit, walk, or a hit-by-pitch, which is the most through a 112-game stretch since Luke Easter did it 179 times between 1949 and 1950.

Nov 14, 2022: There was no arguing against the fact that Steven Kwan had an incredible rookie season. The only issue for him is that Julio Rodríguez and Adley Rutschman did, too.

Kwan came just shy of becoming the first Cleveland player to win the AL Rookie of the Year award since Sandy Alomar Jr. in 1990. Kwan placed third in this year’s vote, trailing Rodríguez (who took home the hardware) and Rutschman (who came in second), as announced on MLB Network.

Just two teams have gone longer than Cleveland without a Rookie of the Year: The Orioles (1989, Gregg Olson) and Padres (1987, Benito Santiago). (M Bell - MLB.com - Nov 14, 2022)

Stephen is Asian-American. He has both Chinese and Japanese roots. 

Kwan’s path to hitting prominence started in his grandmother’s garage, where he fiddled with a rickety, outer space-themed pinball machine.

Press the flipper. The ball shoots through a metal rail to the top of the board, where it waltzes with a pinwheel. Then go to work. With expert timing on the controls — quick fingers and a quicker mind — the game could last all afternoon. 

The root of Kwan’s rise to prominence in the batter’s box for the Guardians is his hand-eye coordination, a trait mastered through childhood summers full of pinball.

Two decades later, Kwan is flirting with a .400 batting average and blazing a trail to the All-Star Game. He’s leaving those in his dugout saying “wow” and leaving those in the opposing one asking: “How?”

How could this 5-foot-9, 170-pound chess champion who was never a high-profile prospect, who figured his rotten freshman year at Oregon State was his baseball journey’s death knell, reside in the same stratosphere as the sport’s slugging behemoths?

“He’s a pain in the ass,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said, complimentarily.

Kwan is the lone soul disinterested in the hype. His dad floods his phone with jarring statistics, but Kwan responds by urging him to ditch social media. He’ll entertain those facts in December, after the season and after a long-awaited, mind-cleansing vacation. He can’t be bothered with adoration. The instant he allows his focus to stray, he insists, he won’t be prepared to keep this going.

This surge, though, has planted Kwan on the national radar, even if he won’t indulge. 

When he turns on an inside fastball and yanks it off the foul pole, he credits his “shorter limbs,” not his unparalleled contact ability. He explains every hit as a lucky bloop or the byproduct of fortunate placement. When he received a smattering of MVP chants as he approached the plate on Saturday, Kwan considered it nothing more than fans’ beer-fueled babbling.

“He’s the humble king,” said teammate Will Brennan.

That grounded attitude has guided Kwan to this point, in which he rivals the league’s luminaries on every leaderboard. So have a rigid commitment to mental preparation, a determination to prove his mom wrong and, of course, pinball. 

When he was four, Kwan told his mom he wanted to be a baseball player. Her response, as Kwan recalls?

Probably not. Let’s focus on something else.

Jane was playing the odds, and Kwan still teases her about her errant projection during their weekly catch-up sessions. She never intended to doubt him. She just aimed to offer a dose of reality. 

He understands her position.

“Small kid. Barely any athleticism in our family,” he said. “My name is freaking Steven.”

He refused, however, to ponder the future or shore up a plan to enter the business world once the baseball dream fizzled. He entered what he described as “survival mode,” a one-year-at-a-time approach to an athletic career that figured to slam into a dead end before long.

In his first college game, he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, a missed sign, a botched bunt attempt and a misplayed ball in the outfield. He was convinced he had no future on the diamond. But, he said, he wouldn’t quit “until someone rips the cleats off of me.” That never happened, and Kwan adopted his mom’s hyper-realistic approach as he pushed forward. As Josh Naylor waxed poetic about Kwan’s evolution as a hitter, Kwan stared down at the table, almost humiliated by the praise. Anytime someone mentions a Kwan surge, he’s quick to stress the law of averages will soon rear its head. 

And so, no, he won’t get caught up in the hysteria surrounding his .390 average.

“Hitting like this just isn’t very common,” he said, “so I’ve never really thought about something like this.”

Scott Barlow allowed Kwan’s first big-league hit, a sinking liner past the second baseman on a fastball at the top of the zone. When the two became teammates this season, Barlow had Kwan sign a bat for him. It rests in the back of the reliever’s locker. 

Barlow was the first of many who have struggled to unearth a formula to quiet Kwan’s bat. The best tactic isn’t some 98 mph heater or wipeout slider or funky, left-handed arm slot. It’s prayer.

When Kwan swung and missed for his 15th strikeout of the season, manager Stephen Vogt and bench coach Craig Albernaz looked at each other and gasped. (For perspective, Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz has 103.)

“It’s like a glitch,” said catcher Austin Hedges. 

Later, Kwan turned on another fastball and pulled it into the right-field seats. He has already hit a career-high seven home runs, in one-third of the plate appearances of a normal season. He’s jockeying with Shohei Ohtani for second place behind Aaron Judge in the league’s slugging ranks.

Just don’t tell him any of these facts until December. (Meisel - Jun 24, 2024 - The Athletic)

When Kwan showers after a game, he watches the shampoo, soap and water funnel down the drain. In his mind, everything that transpired on the field goes with it.

There’s no hitting streak at stake. There’s no slump weighing him down. Every day is a clean slate.

“A lot of us can learn from that,” Brennan said.

Each day, Kwan jots down in his journal three things he did well, a way to practice gratitude after partaking in a game based on failure. When he was twice thrown out on the bases in Atlanta earlier this season, he scribbled about the thought process that prompted each mistake. He couldn’t punish himself for taking a chance he assumed would pay off. And he was reminded he should work on executing a steal of third. Any silver lining is a worthwhile takeaway. When he spent four weeks on the injured list in May, Kwan wrote about being thankful the injury wasn’t worse, given his history with finicky hamstrings. 

Most mornings, Kwan meditates for 10-15 minutes. It centers him and helps him dismiss any intrusive thoughts and block out noise, though he admits that’s been more difficult lately, given the increased attention on his every swing.

Hedges took Kwan under his wing in 2022 and said it was the easiest mentorship he’s ever forged. Kwan was curious and caring, eager to learn how to stick in the majors and how to foster a healthy clubhouse culture. Hedges has watched him blossom into a leader — he’s the Guardians’ union rep at 26 years old. Now, he finds himself learning from Kwan and marveling at his influence on a first-place team.

“He inspires the hell out of me,” Hedges said.

His parents are savoring every moment of this ride, too. Most nights, they schedule dinner around the Guardians’ first-pitch time. On the West Coast, that often means a 4:00 p.m. meal. They wouldn’t dare miss the game’s most lethal leadoff hitter take his first cuts.

Kwan owns a 1.023 OPS. In his last 33 games, he has 16 multi-hit affairs and only five strikeouts. He has more walks (19) than strikeouts (16) this season.

And it all traces back to that pinball prowess. Kwan’s parents met while playing pinball in the 1980s. Kwan remembers asking for their permission to use the family computer so he could play a pinball game. He’d spend hours pushing Z with his left index finger and comma with his right index finger to trigger the flippers, and to cultivate the skills that would eventually make a kid named Steven one of baseball’s best hitters. (Meisel - Jun 24, 2024 - The Athletic)

July 2024: Kwan was voted as a starter to his first the MLB All-Star Game. 

Nov. 15, 2024: Congratulations are in order for Steven Kwan! The Guardians left fielder announced that he and girlfriend Samantha Moy are engaged.

"It was always you Sammy! So excited to continue this journey with you wherever life takes us. Love you eternally and whatever is beyond!" he wrote on Instagram. 

What are MLB Players cheap about? “It’s that old cliche,” said Cleveland’s Steven Kwan, “You stay rich by being cheap.”

Kwan: Socks, undershirts, that stuff I will ride until the end. I had a pillow for 10 years that my now-wife was totally disgusted by. She’s like “You can get a new one!” and I was like “Why? I don’t need a new one.” One day she took the cover off and said, “You need to look at this, it’s disgusting.” And it was. I did end up throwing it away my first year up here. It made it to the big leagues, though.

I still don’t own a car. I lease one and do some (promotional stuff) for the company, and they pay for it. That saves a lot of money. I don’t like paying for snacks. I have my little Lulu(lemon) bag and it’s like a trick-or-treat (in the clubhouse) every day. Usually, it’s spilling out the brim. I’ve got free waters and these sweet Thai chili almonds I’ve been absolutely emptying out. You got to buy in bulk. I’m not playing around going to get toothpaste five or six times. I’m going to get the 10-pack and let that ride out. (Ghiroli - Apr 4, 2025 - The Athletic) 

Steven's 'mental edge' has helped to unlock an undersized MLB star. He considers his sanctuary to be the back corner of a Starbucks perusing the self-help and non-fiction aisles. He says it helps him prepare for those battles in the batter's box. Kwan has three daily self-assigned tasks. He scribbles notes into his journal, meditates, and he reads. His modest target is 10 pages a day.  

He’s a leader teammates flock to for advice. He’s a union rep, a Gold Glover, a batting title candidate who irritates pitchers with his unparalleled plate discipline, contact ability and a newfound power stroke.

He’s a 5-foot-8, 170-pound menace at the plate who has compensated for physical limitations by pursuing competitive advantages on the mental side. “God didn’t just make him Aaron Judge,” says Guardians catcher Austin Hedges. “(Steven) has things to overcome. To be as great as he is, he has to do even more. He’s the most mentally prepared and tough person in the game. That mental edge allows him to be the best leadoff hitter in the game, without being a 6-foot-4, 220-pound physical specimen.” 

Kwan has four tenets that have helped him become one of baseball's best-kept secrets:

1. "We're terrible predictors of the future."

2. "The easiest thing you can do to make yourself happier is have daily gratitude."

3. "Comparison is the thief of joy."

4. "There are infinite universes and everything has happened before and this is the universe where, X, Y and Z happen." 

When Kwan was approached about pulling a sword from a basketball during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ pregame introductions ahead of Game 2 of their series against the Miami Heat on April 23rd, he insisted a throng of teammates join him on the court.

He doesn’t covet the attention, but he’s learning that it’s part of the job. After all, as he and former minor-league teammate Cody Farhat used to tell each other, this is one of a boundless number of simulations, and Kwan just so happens to be living out the one in which he’s an All-Star.

“He’s quickly becoming a household name and a very prominent big leaguer that everyone knows,” Austine Hedges said. (Meisel - Apr 24, 2025 - The Athletic)

May 10, 2025: The competitive spirit and fire of Steven Kwan that’s on display every night for the Guardians can be traced, at least in part, to the lessons his mother, Jane, instilled in him at an early age.

Jane played college volleyball at San Jose State University, and her own athletic experience afforded her a unique perspective as Kwan made his way up the youth baseball ranks. 

“She was more on the, ‘If you ever feel any kind of pain, if you feel any struggle, work through it,’” Kwan said. “She was definitely a tender mom. But in sports, I think she applied the way that she saw sports, in that you’ve just got to flip a switch and then go into a different mode.” One memory that stands out to Kwan perfectly encapsulates that mentality. Kwan played first base at times as a kid, and he recalled one game where he had to dive to receive a pickoff throw. The baserunner slid back into first, and when he got up accidentally kicked Kwan in the stomach. While on the ground in pain, Kwan heard his mom in the stands encouraging him to get up.

“It’s a little embarrassing to hear your mom yell ‘get up,’” Kwan said. “So, it was like, ‘OK, I guess I’ve got to get up,’ then I ended up being fine after. I think it's one of those things where it's like, she knew. It hurt in the moment, but you just tough it out and will be just fine.” Mom always knows best, and Jane has been a constant advocate for Kwan in his journey from youth first baseman to Gold Glove left fielder and All-Star for the Guardians. He recalled the nerves he felt at times ahead of playing in baseball showcases as a kid, as he often was younger than other players.

“She was like, ‘You belong here. This is where you're meant to be,’" Kwan said. Each year, when Kwan’s dad would check with him to make sure he wanted to play baseball, it was no question to his mom.  “My mom was like, ‘No, you're going to play. You're good at it. This is what you want to do,’ that kind of thing,” Kwan said. “I think that kept me laser-focused into giving myself credit. Like, ‘Yeah, I am pretty good at this. She believes in me. Then I should believe in myself.’”

Kwan didn’t play a lot of volleyball growing up, but his baseball game bears some resemblance to how his mom played volleyball. She was a libero (before the NCAA officially introduced it as a position) and enjoyed digging a tough spike, or chasing after a ball that deflected off somebody.

“She found a lot of pleasure in corralling the ball and long rallies, just handling the ball,” Kwan said. “I feel like that's kind of the same thing [with me in baseball]. I like doing the dirty work, just playing fundamental baseball, not going for the big play. Maybe that's the resemblance there.”

Kwan’s mom has continued to be a constant positive presence for him as he’s ascended from fifth-round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft to one of the most elite hitters in the Major Leagues. “I think just keeping me humble, keeping me sane through all of it,” Kwan said. “She obviously has known me since I was as young as can be, and I think kind of always bouncing stuff off of her, like different scenarios and different dynamics. She keeps me humble through all that. Not let me get too big and help me make decisions with that.” (T Stebbins - MLB.com - May 11, 2025)

Kwan has found creative outlet in journaling.

In 2019, when Steven Kwan was in his first full professional baseball season and beginning to chase his big league dream as part of Cleveland’s farm system, he had an idea.

“I was thinking it'd be really cool to look back and see what that journey looked like and where I started,” Kwan said, “and maybe it would be cool to show my kids and grandkids all this kind of stuff.”

Kwan started to journal that season. With the benefit of hindsight, he said the practice began “kind of vainly.” But over the years, it has become a consistent part of his routine, on a journey that has seen him turn from a fifth-round Draft pick in 2018 into one of the game’s biggest stars.

Kwan’s latest accomplishment was earning his second straight All-Star nod. On July 6, he was elected a reserve for the American League at Tuesday's 2025 Midsummer Classic, and he will be Cleveland’s player representative at the festivities in Atlanta.

Kwan's teammate José Ramírez was elected the AL’s starting third baseman, but he opted out of the game to focus on physical recovery for the second half.

We all know Kwan for being one of the best hitters in the Majors, as well as arguably its best defensive left fielder. That’s what earns you All-Star nods from a surface standpoint, but his work on the mental side of the game cannot and should not be discounted or overlooked. “It blossomed into something I could have never imagined,” Kwan said of his journaling.

Kwan has two journals: one that he keeps at home and one at the ballpark. He writes at home at least three to four times a week, and while the initial purpose was to document his baseball journey, his journaling has taken on a different meaning over time.

“Early on, I would see a lot of random anxiety thoughts in my head that seemed so real,” Kwan said of his home journal. “I'd put them out on paper, and I could read it and then just be like, ‘Oh, that's so silly.’ Like, that's not really as crazy as it was in my head, so it became an outlet as well.

“It was a creative outlet also to kind of get away from baseball, because I've never really been an artistic, creative person. So it was a cool way to just do something different.” 

Kwan then went on to start a separate baseball-specific journal last year, which he said is more for practical use at the park. It includes action items for him on a given day, and when the day is over, he can reflect upon what he did well and what he is thankful for.

He writes in that journal about once each series, and it helps him, quite literally, turn the page. Baseball is a six-month grind, and it can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day.

“It's more like the actual tangible,” Kwan said. “I write stuff I did well in the day, and then I literally close the book on the day, so then I can kind of be done with it. I think before, I would obviously ponder on the games and what I could have done better. And it's like, there's so many games -- and thankfully, I get to play in a lot of those games. I can't sit on them too much.

“It's like ‘I did this good.’ On the days I don't do anything really well, it's really hard, obviously, But still, you can find little things that you're really proud of and then close the book on the day and then look forward to tomorrow with a clean slate.” (Tim Stebbins - July 14, 2025 - cleguardians.com)

As fans have continued to get to know him, more interesting tidbits come out about Kwan, including how he recently explained the significance of his No. 38, alluding to Chinese culture that views the No. 3 as a representative of longevity and sees the No. 8 as a lucky number in the way that American culture views the No. 7. (Justin Hussong - Guardians Nation - Sept. 6, 2025)

"I get nervous. Every game. People who say they don’t get nervous are either lying, or they’re José Ramírez. I don’t know if José ever gets nervous.

The national anthem is my last chance to center myself before first pitch. It’s a constant, a chance to maintain a routine. It’s something I can depend on and something I can control in a game in which there’s so much we cannot. So as I stand on the baseline, I start counting.

Breathe in. One.

Breathe out. Two.

As I make my way to 10, it’s funny how many thoughts can flood your mind: What am I gonna do in my first at-bat? What’s the third-base umpire’s name? Do I have time to go to the bathroom?

When you’re in the heat of the battle, staring down a pitcher who knows your weaknesses, your tendencies and your plan of attack, you’re probably going to have hundreds of things cross your mind. Those thoughts can take over. But they’re just thoughts, and if you can identify that in the moment, the thoughts don’t seem so terrifying or real.

That breathing exercise during the anthem basically simulates what I’m going to experience at the plate when I lead off a game a few minutes later.

As much as certain aspects of Major League Baseball have become desensitized now that I’m nearing the end of my fourth season, so much of it still seems surreal and, at times, overwhelming. The night before my MLB debut, I had dinner with my parents and then had no trouble falling asleep. But I woke up in the middle of the night with a coughing fit, and that’s when the gravity of everything hit me. That’s when I try to catch those big thoughts and not give them any more power. 

My wife, Sam, has been a huge help, too.

The thing I love most about her is she really doesn’t care about baseball. I’ll be upset about going 0-for-5 or that we lost and she’ll lighten the mood and provide some perspective. She just got her Master’s in nursing. She’s saving lives. She’ll make in a year what we make in a week. That’s ridiculous. That’s not how it should be. But having her continually pointing me north and keeping me grounded, that’s been the most important thing." (Meisel - Sep 25, 2025 - The Athletic)

May 28-June 2, 2026: Kwan was on the paternity list.

TRANSACTIONS

June 2018: The Indians chose Kwan in the 5th round, out of Oregon State University. Steven signed for an under-slot $185,000 via scout Conor Glassey, with slot being $303,400.

Jan 9, 2025: The Guardians agreed to a one-year deal for $4.1 million with Kwan, avoiding arbitration.