The Yankees have struggled to find themselves a leadoff hitter for a while now — Aaron Judge gets on base like half the time, but his power is probably too valuable to slot him there, especially without
a pair of future Hall of Famers behind him the way Shohei Ohtani enjoys. Trent Grisham was solid enough with his .348 OBP atop the Yankee lineup this year, but we’ve discussed quite a bit around here the risk of hoping to repeat a career-best season. Once upon a time we wished for Anthony Volpe to sit at the top of the Yankee lineup, but now we’re all wondering whether he’s the best option to hit eighth.
The Cleveland Guardians, meanwhile, are trying to strike that perpetual balance between being good enough to contend in the AL Central and maintain a low payroll. To that end, there’s been reporting on both sides that the Guardians are willing to listen to offers for outfielder Steven Kwan, and that the Yankees might be willing to make an offer for him. Kwan has put up 15.1 fWAR across four MLB seasons, is entering his second round of arbitration, and is under team control through the end of 2027.
Let’s start with the good, and it’s that Kwan is an outstanding defensive outfielder. He’s not really a center fielder, with just 31 innings there for his career, but a 90th percentile range and 100th percentile arm will play in the deep left field of Yankee Stadium. With Judge also still a strong defender, you can flank a weaker Grisham should New York continue to keep him patrolling center. Perhaps more critically, Kwan means no Jasson Domínguez in left field, as I think we saw enough of that in 2025.
Kwan’s also a career 113 wRC+ with a .351 OBP, 30 full points better than Grisham’s career and a tick better than Trent’s career-best. He’s not quite as good a baserunner as you’d expect given the overall profile, but if you’re hitting ahead of Aaron Judge, the goal is to make it to first base and jog home on one of his 50+ dingers. So far in his career, Kwan has shown that ability more so than someone like Grisham, Domínguez, or other internal options.
Here’s the rub though. Kwan is the slappiest of slap hitters:
Heres’s his Statcast bubbles for the last two years, his 99 wRC+ in 2025 and a 131 wRC+ in 2024. He does not hit the ball hard, and he does not drive for extra bases. When you have that kind of profile, you must swing at strikes. You can see how well he avoided chasing balls in 2024 — a solid walk rate and when he made contact it was on pitches in the zone. He lost some of that last year, perhaps getting a little too slap-happy. He still made the same amount of contact, but you swing so lightly, pitches out of the zone become weak dribblers, and a dropoff in walk rate brings you from a very good player to one that’s league average.
Indeed this has happened throughout Kwan’s career, he will alternate between quite good and pedestrian, all because of this same pattern. Remember that pitch that Aaron Judge hit against Toronto in the ALDS, 100 mph way in on the hands? When you have as much raw power as Judge, while you still shouldn’t chase those pitches, if you do you might still be able to drive them — especially pitches on the east-west axis.
Kwan just can’t do that, the kinds of balls that he sprays into the middle-outfield for hits only come when he makes contact in the zone. If you’re confident that he can get back to doing that, and taking those walks he took in 2024, then he becomes immensely valuable for the Yankees. It’s not the kind of hitting I really put a lot of value in, but again, the name of the game is get on base in front of the big boy. You add the very real defensive talent, especially at a position where we saw some ugliness last year, and it’s another one of those low-hanging fruits that yield more value than you think just by cleaning up.
If he doesn’t break that chasing habit, the upside gets limited. He’s still young enough that his defense should net you two, maybe two and a half wins a year, he is that good, but even Brett Gardner was able to more consistently hit at a representative level. The Yankees are a team that does preach knowledge of the strike zone so they could be the right fit to break that dirty habit, on the other hand Judge is getting a little old to risk a 99 wRC+ guy hitting ahead of him.
