Steven Kwan

Kwan finished third in a strong field for AL Rookie of the Year. His game is contact as he sported a 3rd percentile average exit velocity and 1st percentile hard-hit rate. along with a 78th percentile sprint speed. Even after Kwan became Cleveland's regular left fielder, fantasy managers were skeptical he'd offer ample category juice to warrant a pickup. He mustered only 38 extra base hits, but Kwan surprisingly swiped 19 bases in 24 tries. Add in 90 runs and Kwan was a three-category contributor, the perfect complement for high-power, low-average sluggers. A hitter of Kwan's ilk will be subject to the whims of BABIP, but a minuscule 9.4% strikeout rate and a 9.7% walk rate offer a batting average floor. Kwan's low-power profile is more palatable with the new MLB rules, especially since he plays for a club designed to take advantage. The team build needs to accommodate Kwan, but there's a pathway to profit.

Kwan had always been an analytics darling from a hit tool standpoint, but traditional scouts typically wrote him off due to a perceived lack of power potential, middling pedigree (fifth rounder in 2018) and lack of physicality (5-foot-9, 175 pounds). He made believers out of many last season, hitting .328/.407/.527 with 12 home runs and more walks (36) than strikeouts (31) in 77 games at Double-A and Triple-A. That performance earned him a spot on Cleveland's 40-man roster this offseason. Given the strength of his hit tool and his desolation of Double-A (159 wRC+) and Triple-A (144 wRC+), Kwan has a realistic chance of becoming a regular in the Guardians' outfield sometime this season. Aside from Myles Straw in center field, nothing in that outfield is locked down.