Guardians manager Stephen Vogt told reporters today that Steven Kwan will get some center field reps during spring training as the club tries to find its best outfield alignment for the upcoming season. Zack Meisel of The Athletic was among those to pass the word along.
Kwan, 28, has logged 4,873 2/3 innings in the outfield in his career. The vast majority of those, 4,689 2/3 innings, have been spent in left field. His center field experience consists of just 31 frames. 30 of those were back in 2022, his debut season, with one frame at that spot last year.
His work in left has been superlative, with the numbers putting him head and shoulders above the rest of the league. Dating back to his 2022 debut, he has been credited with 68 Defensive Runs Saved and 25 Outs Above Average in left. The DRS tally is more than double anyone else at that spot, with Ian Happ coming in second on that leaderboard with a tally of 33. Even though he’s primarily a center fielder, Daulton Varsho is second on the OAA leaderboard for left fielders over the past four years, with his 11 coming nowhere near Kwan. In his four seasons, Kwan has four Gold Gloves and three Fielding Bible awards.
Despite his excellent work in left, the Guards haven’t tried him at the more-demanding center field position. Myles Straw, an excellent defender in his own right, was in center for most of 2022 and 2023. Straw’s poor offense spurred the Guards to move on eventually. He spent most of 2024 in the minors and was traded to the Blue Jays last winter.
The center field job in Cleveland has been fairly open the past two years but the Guards haven’t tried moving Kwan over. That could be because he was comfortable in left and no one was pushing him for the job. The Guards have barely spent any money on free agents in recent years and have also struggled with finishing the development on some of their outfield prospects.
That has left them to cycle through a hodgepodge of guys in center, including Ángel Martínez, Tyler Freeman, Lane Thomas, Daniel Schneemann, Nolan Jones and others. No one has really taken hold of the spot and the Guards are going into 2026 with some outfield uncertainty, a common position for them in recent years.
Kwan will be locked into a spot somewhere. The top options for the other two slots could be George Valera and Chase DeLauter, who both received promotions late in 2025. Valera appeared in 16 regular season games and three postseason contests, splitting his time between right field and designated hitter. DeLauter hasn’t even appeared in a regular season game, as he was promoted to make his big league debut in the Wild Card round of last year’s playoffs.
Valera doesn’t appear to be an option up the middle. He has some minor league experience there but his last regular action at that spot was in 2023. He only logged nine Triple-A innings in center in 2024 and was kept in the corners last year. DeLauter did play some center for the Guards in the postseason last year but that seemed to be a sort of emergency plan to get his bat into the lineup. He actually didn’t play any center in the minors last year. His most recent regular run there was 86 1/3 innings of Double-A ball in 2024.
The Guards seemed like a good fit for a center field addition this winter but didn’t land one. They’ve had an extremely quiet winter, with their most notable signing being a $5.5MM deal for reliever Shawn Armstrong, followed by $1.5MM for reliever Colin Holderman. That lack of spending comes in spite of José Ramírez deferring some of his guarantee as part of his new extension. The Guards are also unlikely to pay Emmanuel Clase due to his gambling investigation.
With the lack of offseason activity, the Guards go into the season with Kwan, Valera and DeLauter as their three most exciting outfielders but someone will have to play center. The designated hitter spot could be used for extra flexibility but first basemen Kyle Manzardo and C.J. Kayfus could be sharing that spot.
If Kwan can handle center, it could help the Guards add some thump to a lineup that has been lacking in recent years. They won the American League Central last year mostly due to pitching and defense, as the team as a whole hit .226/.296/.373 for an 87 wRC+, better than just the Pirates and Rockies. Kwan has a .281/.351/.390 line and 112 wRC+ in his career. Valera hit .255/.346/.457 for a 114 wRC+ in Triple-A last year while DeLauter slashed .278/.383/.476 at that level for a 130 wRC+.
It’s also possible that Kwan doesn’t take to center and ends up back in left where he’s comfortable. The Guards could try DeLauter or Valera there but, as mentioned, neither has played a lot of center in recent years. If all three end up as corner guys, that would leave center to guys like Martínez and Schneemann while DeLauter and/or Valera could be battling Kayfus for at-bats in the DH slot. Martínez has a .226/.277/.353 line and 77 wRC+ in his career with Schneemann at .210/.290/.358 and an 84 wRC+.
Guys like Kahlil Watson and Petey Halpin could also get some playing time but are probably behind Valera and DeLauter on the depth chart. Watson is a converted infielder who has only been playing the outfield for a couple of years, though he is considered to be making good progress on the grass. Halpin’s offensive prowess is considered a bit behind the rest of the guys in this group.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
Love Kwan. Throwback.
Seems like this would have been a smart move 2 seasons ago.
Surprising to see a team that made the playoffs do next to nothing besides extend Jose–which is a lot mind you, but still! Maybe they don’t even believe in that run, but what’s that say to their fanbase?
@Salzilla
They’re in the AL Central. You can win it with 84 wins. 😉
MLB has a lack of star, everyday CF’ers. Some are exceptionally skilled with the glove, others provide decent offense but more suited for a corner OF spot. What happened to the Lenny Dykstra’s and Kenny Lofton’s?
Up until injuries caught up to him, we had this guy named Mike Trout who I think would be a more recent example of the type of player you’re referring to haha.
Dykstra’s in jail, I think. But your point is right on. And think of Mays, Mantle & Snider!
Why dont they just get a CF?
Straw is surely available. They are already paying his buyout. He’s getting $7 M this season but maybe CLE can return a player with a bit of a contract to even out the money.
Why would the jays trade their center field insurance plan who is a perfect fit as a late game defensive replacement in the corners
He is a 4th OF thats costing them $14M with tax.
Clase is a 4th OF that can steal bases, plays decent D, hits RH and is cheap
And they obviously do not have an issue paying that salary or the luxury tax. And the Jays still aren’t even sure what kind of player Nathan Lukes is yet, he’ll be 31 this year and last season was his first extended run in the majors
Clase, the 23 year old with a total of 178 plate appearances in the majors. So we should trade the guy who helped get us to the World Series, and replace him with a guy who has yet to prove he can even be a part time major league player
I think Clase is that 27 year old closer who got caught in a sports betting scheme.
That would mean they need to find a LF who can hit, which they’ve had a much tougher time doing than finding a CF that can fly and hold his own at the plate…. Or is Travis Bazzana going to win Batting Titles like we were told his hit tool was capable of before they wasted a 1/1 pick on him? /s
Halpin is a fantastic CF and by far the best of this group. If Kwan is traded he’s the one I expect to benefit.
Having seen Halpin in person in AAA I can say that I agree. His defense is great. Just needs to prove he can provide offense in MLB.
I’m wondering if he shows he’s great in center too, if it’s a showcase for a future trade. Playing center only ups his already solid value. Of course it also increases his value to Cleveland but given all the recent trade rumors, it seems like it could be a showcase move as well.
Jake Meyers makes sense for Cleveland but I’m not sure what the Astros are looking for in return. Picking up a guy like Suwinski might be a nice, shrewed, low-risk high-reward type of a move if the Guardians could fix his hitting approach. He did hit 45 Home Runs between the ’22-’23 seasons
Why does the article not mention Stuart Fairchild?
Who’s zooming who?
“The Guards seemed like a good fit for a center field addition this winter but didn’t land one.”
Uhhh did we forget about the NRI for Stuart Fairchild?
Valera is 1000% not an option in center, as he’s been riddled with lower-body injuries and was probably trending toward a corner spot anyway. He’d also ideally only play against righties.
DeLauter shouldn’t be in center either if they have any hope of keeping him healthy. Realistically, Valera and DeLauter should both primarily DH, but two lefty hitters who shouldn’t regularly play the outfield isn’t ideal. Add in Kayfus being miscast as an outfielder but being forced to play there in deference to Manzardo, and there’s some weird roster construction going on here.
If Kwan sticks in left, the most likely scenario is Martinez playing there most days and another option like Schneemann or Jones covering there occasionally. Fairchild could do it if he makes the roster, but we’re really scraping the bottom of the barrel here.
There really isn’t a clean option to handle center — offensively or defensively — if it’s not Kwan.
FGDC Projections
PLAYER wOBA, fWAR/PA
Kwan .327 3.4/665
DeLauter .317 2.0/511
Kaufus .320 1.2/427
Martinez .289 0.6/287
Valera .311 0.4/385
Watson .286 0.0/14
Halpin .270 0.0/21