Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan Snubbed From Top-10 List

With pitchers and catchers reporting to camp in just a few weeks, now is the perfect time to count down the top players in baseball and preview who will be the stars of the game heading into next season.

MLB Network shared “The Shredder’s” top left fielders heading into the 2026 season. There are plenty of great players on the list, but one name that is notably missing is Cleveland Guardians’ left fielder Steven Kwan.

Yes, Steven Kwan, who is a two-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, and one of the best lead-off hitters in baseball, somehow didn’t make this ranking.

The Shredder uses “rankings based on past performance, various offensive and defensive metrics (including both advanced statistics and traditional numbers) and analysis by the MLB Network research team, ‘The Shredder’ produces its list of the 10 best players at each position right now.”

Sure, if you want to look at Kwan’s overall stats from a season ago, and see that he only hit .272/.330/.374, and his OPS dipped to .655 after the All-Star Break, that’s a fair argument to say that he’s not a top-five left fielder heading into 2026. 

Still, his total OPS of .727 is right on par with Jackson Chourio’s .771 and Brandon Marsh’s .785, and Kwan’s role isn’t diminished whether there’s a righty or lefty on the mound. 

This ranking shouldn’t just take into account a player’s 2026 stats, too. Kwan has a career .281/.351/.390 slash line over four big-league seasons, which should count for something. 

Also, it feels like Kwan’s elite defense and run prevention were not given the impact they deserve. Cleveland’s left fielder finished in the 94th percentile in fielding run value, the 90th percentile in outs above average, and the 100th percentile in arm value.

If we want to nitpick even more, the top two players on the list were Roman Anthony and Jarren Duran, which feels odd considering only one of them can play left field at a time. 

In the end, does “The Shredder’s” top left fielder’s list mean anything?

No.

However, Kwan has repeatedly established himself as one of the game's top defenders and best contact hitters, too. For him not to be considered a top-10 left fielder in MLB just doesn’t sit right, and it really feels like the computer models got this one wrong. 

Guardians Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We’d love to have you join us to talk all things Guardians. Click the “Join” button at the top of the page to join our community for free.