Rookie Steven Kwan of the Cleveland Guardians must be on a high just days after being awarded the Gold Glove, the highest honor a ball player can receive for their defense. Yet he’s giving all the credit to the ball players and coaches around him.
“It just starts with leadership at the top,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I think if the vets didn’t care about defense then obviously us younger guys wouldn’t care either. It shows that our team is fully faceted and every angle of the game is important so when you have older guys that care about defense it makes it easier for the younger guys coming up.”
As the Cold Wire reports:
The eye test rarely fails, too, and we have seen Kwan cover a crazy amount of field in every fielding chance he has.
His arm is definitely not elite, but he more than makes it up with speed, range, and smart route running.
If we add Kwan’s offensive prowess (124 wRC+, 24 percent above average) we have ourselves a very valuable player.
Kwan says his coaches work hard to make sure the Guardians who boast three other Gold Glove winners are in top form.
Kwan won the Gold Glove for his play in left field. Teammates Myles Straw took the crown for center field, Andrés Giménez at second base and Shane Bieber won for his defense from the pitching mound.
“I think with the coaches, I think a lot of times guys don’t want to work or they don’t care about working. But we have good coaches to where they’re always trying to get better and teach us new things,” said Kwan.
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