Cleveland Guardians' Steven Kwan reacts after hitting a home run against the Oakland Athletics during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Saturday, March 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Steven Kwan has gone from patrolling the outfield at Fremont’s Washington High to joining megastars Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper as All-Star Game starters.
MLB announced the final results of its fan ballot on Wednesday night, and Kwan, 26, will be the American League’s centerfielder for the July 16 game at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field. He’ll be flanked by Yankees stars Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in the A.L. outfield.
Kwan, whose high school also produced six-time All-Star Dennis Eckersley, is one of eight first-time All-Star starters, joining Soto, the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, the Astros’ Yordan Alvarez, the Phillies’ Alec Bohm, the Brewers’ William Contreras and the Padres’ Jurickson Profar.
The Los Gatos-born Kwan took the baseball world by storm in April 2022 when he became the first player since at least 1901 to reach base 12 times in his first three career games, and in just his third season in the majors is now considered one of the game’s top leadoff hitters.
Kwan, who checks in at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, has already hit a career-high seven home runs in just 57 games this season and has a .945 OPS to go along with a league-leading .362 batting average. He leads the majors with 11 three-hit games this season despite missing most of May because of a hamstring injury.
Dodgers star Ohtani became the first player elected to start at designated hitter in four straight All-Star Games, and along with Judge are the only holdovers from last year’s starting All-Star lineups.
Philadelphia could have three of the four National League infielders after fans voted shortstop Trea Turner and third baseman Alec Bohm to start alongside first baseman Harper, whose status is uncertain because of a leg injury.all-star
Major League Baseball said this is the first time each league has had no more than one player repeat as an elected starter since fan balloting resumed in 1970.
Six teams, including Kwan’s A.L.-Central leading Guardians, have two starters each. Cleveland third baseman José Ramírez was elected a starter for the third time. Also doubling up are the Yankees: Soto and Judge, who gained his berth last week with Harper as the top vote-getters in the first round of balloting; Orioles: catcher Rutschman and shortstop Henderson; Astros: second baseman Jose Altuve and DH Alvarez; Padres: outfielders Profar and Fernando Tatis Jr.; and the Brewers: catcher Contreras and outfielder Christian Yelich.
Toronto first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte also were voted in.
Philadelphia last had three elected infielders in 1982 with Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt and Manny Trillo. Harper went on the injured list on June 28 because of a strained left hamstring but could return ahead of the All-Star Game.
Tatis hasn’t played since June 21 because of a stress reaction in his right thigh bone and may be sidelined past the All-Star break.
Pitchers and reserves will be announced Sunday.
Ohtani is an All-Star for the fourth straight season but first since leaving the Los Angeles Angels for a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers. He was an unprecedented two-way All-Star from 2021-23 but isn’t pitching this season while he recovers from reconstructive elbow surgery.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Originally published at Laurence Miedema