Zack Meisel of The Athletic has a column where Steven Kwan took him through each pitch of the 9-pitch at-bat that ended with a grand slam. Really interesting to see how a hitter thinks as he goes through an at-bat. Kwan was sitting on the fastball every pitch because he knew he couldn't hit the fastball if he was sitting on a breaking ball, but if he was looking for a fastball he could still foul off a breaking ball.
Ironically, he hit a slider for the home run while looking for a fastball, which is what he wanted to hit.
He had three home runs in his first 124 games, then three more in his next 15.
“Early in the year, I was just trying to carve out an identity for myself. I think I bought into that narrative of, ‘This guy doesn’t strike out. He walks a lot. He sees a lot of pitches.’ So I took on that role of, ‘I’m going to foul pitches off. I’m going to spoil pitches. I’m going to hit a single the other way.’ It’s just getting back into my own body and being like, ‘I’m still a good hitter. I can still hit the ball with some power.’ Especially in that scenario. Maybe if it was a 0-0 game, I’m going to try to hit a single the other way. But I knew we had a comfortable lead, so I felt comfortable trying to hit something for a little more power.”
So Kwan has evolved from a "work the count, try for a walk or slap the ball to left" hitter to a more aggressive, fastball hunting, do some damage approach. The result is three home runs in 15 games. That's a 30 home run per year pace. I'm not saying he'll hit 30 next year, but he's hitting .311/.835 in September, so who knows? He could end up being the next Michael Brantley (.298/.795 career) only much better defensively. He may be there already.
