Kwan's front-row seat to seeing his idol

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell's Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

For a moment, Steven Kwan was just a fan again.

When the season started this year, Kwan was largely unknown. He caught some attention in the Minors last year and he had a tremendous spring campaign. It wasn’t a surprise when he made the Opening Day roster. What ended up being the surprise was the way he seamlessly transitioned to the Majors and stole all the headlines when he refused to whiff at a pitch in his first handful of games.

It didn’t take anyone long to guess the player he may have idolized growing up. During that stretch, we all wanted to learn more about what made Kwan ... Kwan. But even before he admitted that Ichiro Suzuki was the player he modeled his game after growing up, Guardians manager Terry Francona saw the resemblance in his batting stance.

“Well the first thing is, when he gets into the box, and I haven’t asked him yet, but he squats down kind of like Ichiro,” Francona said at the beginning of the season. “One, I get so jealous, I’m like '[Man], I wasn’t able to do that even when I was that age.'”

It’s true. Ichiro was the player Kwan wanted to be like. It’s been rooted in him since he was young. His grandmother followed the Japanese news network and Kwan remembers a segment dedicated to whatever Ichiro did in his game that night, regardless of what it was.

“Even if he went O-fer, they would show what he did,” Kwan said. “Growing up, I always watched it. It was a really cool segment.”

So, when the Guardians were at T-Mobile Park a few weeks ago on the same day that the Mariners were inducting Ichiro into their Hall of Fame, Kwan couldn’t help but become a fan again.

The ceremonies took place on the field before first pitch. Kwan stood at the top of the Guardians’ dugout, peering over rows of friends, family and former players sitting in front of him to get the best view of his favorite player.

Ichiro had tons of press to talk to throughout the weekend. One of the main talking points he’d go back to was the fact that so many people doubted he could make it where he is today because of his size -- something that Kwan can relate to, as well.

“I mean, that was a big source of pride for me,” Kwan said. “I was young, saw this guy balling out, he wasn’t hitting the big home runs, he wasn’t doing the big macho things, but he was getting the job done. They rolled him out every day. He succeeded. He was a superstar. So, that was big for my confidence just seeing somebody of a smaller stature and obviously being of Asian descent could do it. I thought that was really big.”

Kwan soaked up every second of having a front-row seat to Ichiro weekend. Kwan didn’t get to meet his idol, but he was able to secure a signed Ichiro jersey -- one that he’s going to cherish forever.

“It’s getting framed immediately,” Kwan said. “That’ll be my prized possession, for sure.”