Former Oregon State and current Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan is on a blazing start to his MLB career. Through five games, he has 10 hits in 15 at-bats (.667), seven runs and has yet to swing and miss any of the 115 pitches he’s seen this season.
Kwan began this rise in his three seasons at Oregon State (2016-18) where he improved each year in every stat category.
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He didn’t get the start he may have wanted in 2016. He appeared in 35 games with 65 at-bats and hit .215 with a .308 slugging percentage. But, he showed enough to earn more playing time.
The 2017 postseason is where Kwan began to shine. He hit for a .424 average (14-33), 12 runs and eight walks in the 2017 NCAA tournament. He won Most Outstanding Player in the Corvalis regional.
The Beavers fell short in the College World Series that year losing to LSU in the semifinals.
Oregon State and Kwan came back with a vengeance in 2018. The Beavers went 55-12-1 and won the CWS. That season, Kwan averaged .355, with 60 runs, 41 RBIs, 50 walks and 18 strikeouts in 256 at-bats.
During that stellar junior year, Kwan recorded a 16-game hit streak. A seven-game multi-hit steak was mixed into that streak, including a 3-4 performance with four runs and a walk against San Diego. He finished that season on the Pac-12 All-Conference team.
🏆 CHAMPS: How Oregon State won the 2018 College World Series
Kwan wasn’t able to complete his final season in the most idyllic way as he suffered a hamstring injury in the CWS against Washington. Prior to the injury, he was hitting .375 with six runs and six RBIs in the tournament. Kwan was limited to pinch-hit appearances and one start in the final six games of the title run. He was still a major factor in the Beavers’ run to their third title in program history.
