Steven Kwan will be the leadoff hitter for the American League in this year’s All-Star Game. He’s the sixth different Cleveland hitter to bat leadoff in the game.
The others:
Kwan will face Pirates rookie Paul Skenes in the first inning. The last time a rookie started the All-Star Game was in 1995, when Hideo Nomo struck out Kenny Lofton to start the game. Carlos Baerga was the number-two hitter that year and followed up with a hit.
In 11 games since returning from the IL, Steven Kwan is batting .535. Not only is it an impressive performance immediately following an IL stint, its the the third highest batting average in a single-season 11-game span for Cleveland since 1994.
Here’s the leaderboard in that span with a minimum of 40 PA and excluding overlapping streaks:
Justice’s 1997 season appears on here twice. It was two separate streaks with no overlapping games, one in May and another in August.
Steven Kwan is the 14th player in franchise history with 15 hits through eight games.
Most recent:
Andres Gimenez collected four hits including a home run against the Rays on Sunday afternoon.
It was the 32nd time in franchise history a second baseman had a four-hit game with a home run.
Here’s the list back to 2000:
Kipnis and Carlos Baerga share the franchise career record with five apiece.
Josh Naylor closed out the first half with 64 RBI, tied for 27th most in franchise history before the break. Obviously most of the players ahead of him on that list made the All-Star team.
Naylor is the 10th player in franchise history with at least 64 RBI to not be selected to the game. The list:
Hafner, Trosky and Horton never ended up making any All-Star team.