Sunday Notes: Grant Fink Helps Steven Kwan Keep the Bumpers On

Davy Andrews recently wrote about Steven Kwan’s defense, which, as my colleague chronicled, has been demonstrably stellar. Not only has the 28-year-old Cleveland Guardians left fielder been awarded a Gold Glove in each of his four MLB seasons, the metrics back up the accolades. There hasn’t been a better defender at his position, and that goes for the senior circuit as well as the American League.

And then there is Kwan’s bat. The 2018 fifth-round pick out of Oregon State University isn’t a basher, but he is a solid contributor to the Guardians offense. Since debuting in 2022, the erstwhile Beaver has slashed .281/.351/.390 with a 112 wRC+. Moreover — this is no secret for most FanGraphs readers — he seldom goes down by way of the K. Kwan’s 9.5% strikeout rate over the past four campaigns is the lowest among qualified hitters not named Luis Arraez.

Grant Fink knows his left-handed stroke as well as anyone. Cleveland’s hitting coach tutored Kwan in the minors before moving into his current role, and they work together in the offseason. I asked Fink about two-time All-Star when the Guardians visited Fenway Park last September.

“If you look at his profile as a hitter in the major leagues, it is based on accuracy and ball flight,” Fink told me. “His key is making sure that his body is moving in a way where he can get his barrel to the ball in multiple places in the zone, and that he is making contact in the right windows to produce that consistent ball flight.

“Throughout the minor leagues, he always had this contact ability,” the hitting coach added. “What we saw in 2021 was a jump in some of the ISO, the slugging power. He didn’t lose his contact ability in doing that. His swing got a little faster, his body move got a little bigger, and he was able to tie everything together.”

Kwan also brought up 2021 when I talked to him in Boston. That year, he homered 12 times in 341 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A. He’d previously gone deep just six times, hitting three each as a professional and as a collegian.

“That spring was kind of where he and [minor league hitting coach] Jordan Becker kind of helped me revamp my swing,” said Kwan, who has 36 big-league home runs, including 14 in 2024 and 11 last season. “So, he knows me as a hitter. Mechanically, bio-mechanically, he knows my swing inside and out. What we do now is mostly just fine-tuning. You don’t want to be like, ‘What can I work on? What can I fix?’ It’s more, ‘Hey, how does it look? He’ll say, ‘good,’ and I’ll believe him.”

Kwan had just come out of the indoor batting cage when we spoke. Fink had been in there with him, as were assistant hitting coaches Dan Puente and Junior Betances. Player-wise, Kyle Manzardo and Gabriel Arias were also getting their pre-game work in.

Asked if Kwan had been working on anything specific, Fink basically echoed what the outfielder said about fine-tuning.

“It’s constantly about just keeping the bumpers on for him,” said Fink. “It’s understanding what he does when he’s at his best — what’s happening with his bat, what’s happening with his body — and making sure that his daily routines are aligned with that. He knows exactly what he needs to do to make sure that his body is moving the right way, which in turn makes his bat move the right way. You pair that with his approach, and you get the consistent performance. He’s really diligent in his preparation. That translates to the game.”

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Andre Dawson went 12 for 21 against Mark Grant.

Bubba Phillips went 11 for 21 against Mudcat Grant,

Harry Heilmann went 11 for 22 against George Grant.

Jorge Posada went 5 for 6 against Grant Balfour.

Lou Gehrig went 6 for 10 against Herman Fink.

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The Red Sox currently have uncertainty at both second and third base. Marcelo Mayer is on tap to man one of those two positions, while the other could very well be filled by a trade or free-agent acquisition (spring training right around the corner, that clock is ticking).

Which brings us to a player who started 32 games at second base for Boston last season, as well as 51 at first base and one at the hot corner. Regardless of how his time is allocated in the forthcoming campaign, Romy Gonzalez can rake.

“The roster has changed,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora recently told reporters. “Willson [Contreras] is going to play every day [at first base]. Romy is going to play second, but we’ll probably expand his role defensively. We’ll get him back to playing the outfield a little bit. We’ve got to get him at-bats. If you look at all of the metrics — all of the good numbers — he hit the ball hard. He was up there with the big boys. He keeps getting better, which is the most important thing.”

Gonzalez was indeed impressive in what was a breakout season. Not only did the 29-year-old infielder slash .305/.343/.483 with a 123 wRC+ over 341 plate appearances, he finished in the 99th percentile for hard-hit%, the 79th percentile for barrel%, and the 95th percentile for average exit velocity.

One concern going forward is the splits: Gonzalez logged a 162 wRC+ versus left-handed pitchers and a 95 wRC+ versus same-sided pitchers. Rather than a regular, he might best be utilized as a multi-positional lefty-killer. Based on Cora’s comments, as well as his slightly below average defensive metrics, that seems the most likely scenario.

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A quiz:

Which pitcher has thrown the most career innings without ever starting a game in the majors? (A hint: he played for three teams, exclusively in the National League, made 1,050 appearances, and was credited with 184 saves.)

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NEWS NOTES

The Seattle Mariners announced yesterday that they will wear replica 1946 Seattle Steelheads uniforms on Sunday home games this season. In doing so, they will become the first MLB team to have a Negro League team’s uniform as part of their regular rotation. The Steelheads were owned by Abe Saperstein, who founded the Harlem Globetrotters.

Dangerous Danny Gardella: Baseball’s Neglected Trailblazer for Today’s Millionaire Athletes, written by Robert Elias, was awarded the 2026 SABR Seymour Medal. The honor goes to the best book of baseball history or biography published during the preceding calendar year.

A GoFundMe has been set up for Emily Waldon, who learned earlier this week that her cancer has returned. Waldon has covered the Detroit Tigers minor league system for multiple publications, including Baseball America.

Zach Monroe, a right-hander who went 4-2 with a 3.38 ERA over 24 games for the New York Yankees across the 1958-1959 seasons, died on January 18 at age 94. Monroe made one appearance in the 1958 World Series, allowing three runs to the Milwaukee Braves in his lone frame.

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The answer to the quiz is Kent Tekulve. The submarining right-hander tossed 1,436-and-two-thirds innings while playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, and Cincinnati Reds from 1974-1989.

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Miami Marlins pitching coach Daniel Moskos was featured in last Sunday’s column, with the crux of his quotes pertaining to the NL East club’s pitching philosophy. Left on the cutting-room floor was his response when I asked about Thomas White.

“He’s really exciting,” Moskos said of the 21-year left-hander, who ranks among the game’s top pitching prospects. “He wasn’t in big-league camp with us this past spring, but he would come to the minor-league pitching office. I was hanging out there a lot, because part of our philosophy is to build continuity, to have the same messaging from the major leagues all the way down to the Dominican complexes. You’re going to hear the same things talked about, the same things valued, throughout the system. That’s where my time was spent around him. But he’s a great kid. He’s a hard-worker with a lot of talent. He has a bright future.”

Drafted 35th overall by the Marlins in 2023 out of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, White pitched at three levels last season, topping out in Triple-A. He had a 2.31 ERA, a 2.27 FIP, and a 38.6% strikeout rate, with just 55 hits allowed over 89-and-two-thirds innings.

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Sticking with cutting-room floors, Joe Boyle was featured here at FanGraphs this past Tuesday, the subject at hand being the righty’s thoughtful approach toward improving his wayward command. Our conversation also included a brief discussion of his arsenal.

When he signed his his first professional contract in 2020, Boyle threw a four-seamer, a slider, and a curveball. He still throws the first two, but the third has been scrapped in lieu of a split-change, which was added last year. He toyed with a sweeper in 2024, but that too ended up in his back pocket — which isn’t to say it will reside there forever.

“I have the spin capacity, and I have a supination bias, so I picked up the sweeper really quickly,” said Boyle, whom the Tampa Bay Rays acquired from the Oakland Athletics via trade in December 2024. “But it was one of those pitches where… it kind of complicated things. I could see myself adding it back down the road if the game dictates that. For now, I feel a lot more confident with the splitter and the more traditional slider.”

The University of Notre Dame product is throwing his slider harder than he had previously. The Rays encouraged him to do, and the result was a velocity climb from 88 mph to 90.8 mph. His current club isn’t responsible for the split-change addition, but they have played a part in its usage.

“I kind of just started playing around with it, because I wanted something else,” explained Boyle, who threw his newest offering at a 16.3% clip. “I kind of stumbled upon a grip that produced a really good profile and was consistent. The Rays saw that and really liked it, so they encouraged me to throw it more and believe in it. I credit them for their encouragement in that pitch.”

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The five-team, round-robin 2026 Caribbean Series gets underway later today in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico. The schedule can be found here.

NPB is reorganizing its top farm league. Information can be found here.

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A random obscure former player snapshot:

Maurice Van Robays drove in 116 runs for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1940, but that’s not what he is most known for. His claim to fame is the coining of a word. Asked about a high arcing pitch thrown by Rip Sewell, Van Robays replied, “That’s an eephus pitch.” He went on to explain that an “eephus ain’t nuthin.” Twice a 20-game winner, Sewell would later have his signature offering taken deep by Ted Williams in the 1946 All-Star Game.

Van Robays’ career was relatively unremarkable outside of the aforementioned. The Detroit native played in Pittsburgh from 1939-1943, missed the next two seasons serving in the military, then returned to the Pirates in 1946 for a final campaign. All told, he recorded 493 hits, including 20 home runs, with a 95 wRC+.

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

Lookout Landing’s Kate Preusser wrote about Seattle Mariners broadcaster Rick Rizzs, who will be retiring at the end of the forthcoming season, his 52nd in baseball and 41st with the Mariners.

Royals Review’s Bradford Lee wrote about baseball milestones that have been achieved in Kansas City.

Baseball America’s Matt Eddy provided us with a detailed look at 2025 minor-league park factors (subscription required).

MLB.com’s Benjamin Hill introduced us to the 11 oldest ballparks in Minor League baseball.

Gaslamp Ball’s Cheri Bell wrote about how Ramón Laureano profiles as the San Diego Padres’ secret weapon.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

Skeeter Shelton holds the MLB record for most plate appearances (43) and at-bats (40) among position players who recorded just one career hit. An outfielder for the New York Yankees, Shelton singled off of Detroit Tigers southpaw Harry “The Giant Killer” Coveleski on August 28, 1915.

Along with winning Rookie of the Year honors, Benito Santiago made four All-Star teams and was awarded four Silver Sluggers and a pair of Gold Gloves from 1987-1992. The San Diego Padres catcher had a 94 wRC+ over 3,000 plate appearances across that six-year span, as well as 15.4 WAR.

Dom DiMaggio made seven All-Star teams in his 10 full seasons in the majors (which were interrupted by three years serving in the military during WWII). An elite defensive centerfielder who was known as “The Little Professor,” the youngest of the three DiMaggio brothers batted .298 with a 112 wRC+.

Vince DiMaggio played parts of 10 MLB seasons, recording 959 hits, including 125 home runs, and a 106 wRC+. He also fanned a fair amount. The oldest of the siblings led NL hitters in strikeouts in six different seasons. He made the All-Star team with the Pittsburgh Pirates in two of them.

Joe DiMaggio had 131 triples and 30 stolen bases.
Brett Butler had 131 triples and 558 stolen bases.

Rod Carew had 3,053 hits, a .328 batting average, and a 132 wRC+.
Wade Boggs had 3,010 hits, a .328 batting average, and a 132 wRC+.

The Red Sox signed Enrique Wilson as a free agent on today’s date in 2006. The veteran of nine big-league seasons was subsequently released that summer, having never played for the AL club — but he was nonetheless well known by the Boston fanbase. Wilson went 11 for 25 against Pedro Martinez, including 7 for 8 with four doubles in 2003 while a member of the New York Yankees.

The New York Giants signed Jim Thorpe as an amateur free agent on today’s date in 1913. A dual Gold Medal winner (decathlon and pentathlon) in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, the product of the Carlisle (PA) Indian School played parts of six MLB seasons, recording 176 hits and a .252 batting average. Thorpe is in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.

Players born on today’s date include Paul Blair, who ranks among the best defensive centerfielders in MLB history. Twice an All-Star, Blair was awarded eight Gold Gloves, those coming in a nine-year span (1967-1975) with the Baltimore Orioles. He played in six World Series, winning two each with the O’s and the New York Yankees.

Also born on today’s date was Clarence Nottingham “Chuck” Churn, a right-hander who went 3-2 with a 5.10 ERA over 25 relief appearances while playing for three teams from 1957-1959. His most notable moments came with the Los Angeles Dodgers. On September 11 of his final season, he was the winning pitcher in the game where Pittsburgh Pirates reliever Roy Face suffered his first defeat of the year after starting out 17-0 (Face’s 18 relief wins in 1959 is an MLB record). Three weeks later, Churn made his last-ever appearance in Game 1 of the Fall Classic, retiring just two of the nine batters he faced in an 11-0 Dodgers loss to the Chicago White Sox. He nonetheless retired a champion: LA went on to capture the franchise’s first World Series title since relocating from Brooklyn a year earlier.