CLEVELAND — In 2019, when Steven Kwan was in his first full professional baseball season and beginning to chase his big league dream as part of Cleveland’s farm system, he had an idea.
“I was thinking it’d be really cool to look back and see what that journey looked like and where I started,” Kwan said, “and maybe it would be cool to show my kids and grandkids all this kind of stuff.”
Kwan started to journal that season. With the benefit of hindsight, he said the practice began “kind of vainly.” But over the years, it has become a consistent part of his routine, on a journey that has seen him turn from a fifth-round Draft pick in 2018 into one of the game’s biggest stars.
Kwan’s latest accomplishment was earning his second straight All-Star nod. On July 6, he was elected a reserve for the American League at Tuesday’s 2025 Midsummer Classic, and he will be Cleveland’s player representative at the festivities in Atlanta.
Kwan’s teammate José Ramírez was elected the AL’s starting third baseman, but he opted out of the game to focus on physical recovery for the second half.
We all know Kwan for being one of the best hitters in the Majors, as well as arguably its best defensive left fielder. That’s what earns you All-Star nods from a surface standpoint, but his work on the mental side of the game cannot and should not be discounted or overlooked.
“It blossomed into something I could have never imagined,” Kwan said of his journaling.
Kwan has two journals: one that he keeps at home and one at the ballpark. He writes at home at least three to four times a week, and while the initial purpose was to document his baseball journey, his journaling has taken on a different meaning over time.
“Early on, I would see a lot of random anxiety thoughts in my head that seemed so real,” Kwan said of his home journal. “I’d put them out on paper, and I could read it and then just be like, ‘Oh, that’s so silly.’ Like, that’s not really as crazy as it was in my head, so it became an outlet as well.
“It was a creative outlet also to kind of get away from baseball, because I’ve never really been an artistic, creative person. So it was a cool way to just do something different.”
Kwan then went on to start a separate baseball-specific journal last year, which he said is more for practical use at the park. It includes action items for him on a given day, and when the day is over, he can reflect upon what he did well and what he is thankful for.
He writes in that journal about once each series, and it helps him, quite literally, turn the page. Baseball is a six-month grind, and it can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day.
“It’s more like the actual tangible,” Kwan said. “I write stuff I did well in the day, and then I literally close the book on the day, so then I can kind of be done with it. I think before, I would obviously ponder on the games and what I could have done better. And it’s like, there’s so many games — and thankfully, I get to play in a lot of those games. I can’t sit on them too much.
“It’s like ‘I did this good.’ On the days I don’t do anything really well, it’s really hard, obviously, But still, you can find little things that you’re really proud of and then close the book on the day and then look forward to tomorrow with a clean slate.”
Kwan slashed .292/.368/.425 with 14 homers in 122 games last season, while winning his third Gold Glove Award. He entered the break slashing .285/.345/.396 over 92 games, and he has recorded -1 outs above average in left field.
As he continues to put in the physical work to be great, Kwan also continues to enjoy what journaling has done for him.
“It’s a really good way of compartmentalizing the days and just understanding what I did well, being grateful for a lot of stuff,” he said. “I think that’s really important to continue to practice that muscle.
“And obviously, it felt like I did really well last year, so I figured I had to keep that going. Maybe a little superstition with that part as well.”