DETROIT — It wouldn't be accurate to say a rookie can have too much success in his first taste of the majors. There's no such situation.
But it might be fair to say such a successful rookie season might leave some needed lessons unlearned heading into a player's second year.
In that regard, Steven Kwan and Will Brennan —along with some other Guardians sophomores — went to school this season.
Kwan's rookie season started on a historic note — in a literal sense — in 2022. He was getting on base at a borderline ridiculous clip, took over the leadoff spot as a rookie and ended the season with a .298 average, a .373 on-base percentage, a Gold Glove Award and finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting.
By any reasonable measure, it couldn't have gone any smoother. And then the came the speed bumps to begin the 2023 season.
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It took a while for Kwan to get going this year. From Opening Day until the middle of June, Kwan hit just. 253 with a .336 OBP and a .678 OPS. But since the middle of June, Kwan hit .285 with a .369 OBP and a .748 OPS, much closer to his 2022 numbers.
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The first few months of 2023 served as a classroom of sorts. It wasn't the first time Kwan hit at a lower rate than he would have liked. Kwan broke out of a slump last May with success. But this season showed him that the attention to detail is always necessary.
"I think last year was so obviously so new and so fresh and, for myself personally, just debuting and then I feel like everything was going right for the team," Kwan said of the Guardians' 92-win season in 2022. "I think there were just a lot of lessons this year on how a lot of times, you can't just show up to the ballpark unprepared just throwing the balls and bats out there and just hoping something good happened. … I think for me personally, I just need to be more focused on the little details and being prepared [going] into the year."
Kwan will still end 2023 with a productive season. He's been worth 3.0 fWAR, which is a valuable addition to any roster from a second-year outfielder who just turned 26 a few weeks ago. He ended 2022 with 4.5 fWAR. His average and OBP dipped, but he also had more extra-base hits (48 to 38) this season than in 2022. He actually graded slightly better defensively this year than he did when he won the AL Gold Glove a year ago. And he stole two more bases (21 to 19).
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But the slow start played into the Guardians' lackluster offensive struggles to begin 2023, which eventually helped to bury their postseason hopes once pitching injuries were added to the mix. Kwan was able to rebound and learn from the experience, but he also paid for it.
"I've played baseball my whole life. It can be very unforgiving," Kwan said. "I mean, baseball always wins at the end of it. … Obviously the ball's going to bounce different ways every time, but it's a special group here. We've done it one time; there's no reason we can't do it again."
Heading into 2024, he's a crucial member of the club's future. Aside from the pure statistical value Kwan has provided — his 7.5 fWAR since the beginning of 2022 ranks 11th among all outfielders and sixth in the American League — taking over the leadoff spot ahead of Jose Ramirez isn't something the Guardians took lightly. It's a pivotal point in the order, especially when it was being handed off to a rookie last year.
"It's a big ask for a young kid," said Guardians manager Terry Francona. "That's why we kind of held off last year. … I wanted to make sure [Kwan] was ready to handle it. I'd rather be slow on the draw than do something and have to pull him back."
For Will Brennan, much of his learning took place a couple lockers over from where his is located in the Guardians clubhouse. And a late addition to the club left him with some words of wisdom heading into the winter.
Brennan has had a 2023 season to forget, aside from a few hot stretches, one of which involved the unfortunate death of a bird in the infield.
Entering Saturday, Brennan was hitting .263 with a .651 OPS. After being promoted near the end of the 2023 season, he was such a tear that he accrued nearly as much fWAR (0.4) in 11 games last September as he has this entire season (0.6).
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It was Brennan's first experience with a slump a the major league level, and how difficult it can be to break out of it against the game's best pitchers. Like Kwan, Brennan struggled out of the gate this season. It's the type of stretch not uncommon for young hitters.
"You just learn how to fail gracefully," Brennan said. "I think 2022 was a lot of success and I just rode every high, and then I rode those highs [to the playoffs]. It's pretty easy to have success and do things well when you're winning all the time, but I guess your true test of character is when you lose and when you fall flat on your face, and I feel like I handled that pretty poorly in the first month."
In other words, Brennan learned that failure can be compounded into an even larger slump if not handled correctly. It's something a few hitters in the Guardians clubhouse learned while they traversed another season as the youngest in baseball.
Enter Kole Calhoun as a veteran the club acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations. Suddenly, Brennan had a strong veteran presence just a few lockers from his. And it was Calhoun, among others, who offered some advice on how to rebound from a rough at-bat, game or series.
"It's just being able to fail and being OK with that," Brennan said of what Calhoun and others expressed to him. "I think that's hard for humans to do, especially humans that want to be performing highly and be really successful, but I think the faster you're able to fail, the more you learn. You don't really learn from going 1,000 for 1,000 in a season."
While Brennan hopes 2023 can serve as a learning experience, he's also trying to make it so he can avoid another round of summer school in 2024.
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Twitter at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan, Will Brennan hope to learn from 2023
