The MLB hitting lead is currently held by Steven Kwan, who is now a ……..

The MLB hitting lead is currently held by Steven Kwan, who is now a qualified hitter: guardians’ breakfast..

Yes, he led off with a single in the first inning, but even by his own standards, that wasn’t very impressive. Kwan often puts up three-hit performances without exerting any effort; this is nothing new.

And so, after beating out Anthony Santander of Baltimore for the final outfield berth in the American League in a vote by baseball fans across the globe, he was named a starter for the All-Star Game. Since Juan Gonzalez in 2001, he will be the first outfield player from Cleveland to be elected to start the game.

In Cleveland’s 84th game, Kwan’s 1-for-4 night quietly advanced him above the 260 plate appearance threshold. According to Major League Baseball analytics, this puts the Guardians leadoff hitter at or near the top of the list in several important hitting metrics, making him a qualified hitter.

Kwan now leads all big league hitters with a .360 batting average. That gives him a 41-point advantage over Shohei Ohtani of the Dodgers and puts him 42 points ahead of Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. He also ranks third in the AL in on-base percentage (.417), fifth in on-base plus slugging (OPS) at .938 and eighth in slugging percentage (.521).

After a blistering month of June that saw him bat .374 in 23 games after returning from a four-week stint on the injured list with a sore hamstring, Kwan has cooled off at the plate. He was batting .398 after a four-hit game in Toronto on June 16. Since then he has dropped 38 points despite recording hits in 11 of his last 15 games.

Kwan has exactly the same number of games with at least three hits (11) as he does hitless games (11) this season. Results like that, Kwan said, give him confidence that he is on the right track offensively.