Reds' Santiago Espinal offers surprising similarities to ex-Terry Francona pupil

Even with the addition of Gavin Lux, the Cincinnati Reds’ infield situation still seems murky, but that lack of clarity could provide opportunities for unexpected contributions. One player that could benefit from the uncertainty is Santiago Espinal. Luckily, the utility infielder bears a resemblance to a former Terry Francona pupil: Steven Kwan. Perhaps Tito can work similar magic in Cincinnati.

Kwan broke onto the scene with Francona’s Guardians in 2022 and quickly made a name for himself thanks to his plate discipline. He started his career with 116 consecutive pitches without a swing and miss. (His first whiff, incidentally, came on a caught foul tip against Nick Lodolo.) That’s the type of approach that Espinal could emulate.

Santiago Espinal could transform into Steven Kwan 2.0 under Reds manager Terry Francona

Espinal is already using a plate approach that mirrors Kwan’s 2022 form. Both players ranked in the top 10% of qualified big leagues in whiff rate and strikeout rate. They hit the ball at the “launch angle sweet spot” roughly 35% of the time, but much of their contact is soft, leading to low slugging percentages and exit velocity.

In the past two seasons, Kwan has made a significant adjustment: he stopped hitting grounders. He still is conservative in how much he swings (in fact, his whiff rate was even lower in 2024), but when he does swing, he gets a little bit more air under the ball, particularly to the pull side. The result has been a significant increase in his slugging percentage without a dent to his average or on-base percentage.

Espinal made similar changes in 2024 that showed signs of bearing fruit, especially in the second half of the season when he hit .288/.337.394. His launch angle rose significantly while his ground-ball rate fell. He’s already a master of Francona’s directive of taking “good at-bats.”

Espinal needs to make two more tweaks, though, to fully embrace his Kwan-ness. He needs to pull the ball with power. He sent almost one-third of his contact to the opposite field in 2024; only one of those went for extra-bases. He also could work more walks. Espinal only walked 6.1% of the time, leading to a sub-.300 on-base percentage, a full 70 points lower than Kwan’s 2024 rate.

Thankfully, due to the Reds’ fluid infield set-up, Espinal should get plenty of looks at the plate in 2025. With better timing and a bit more pop, he could regain his All-Star form.

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