CLEVELAND — At his lowest point, when every swing seemed to produce a weak grounder or a harmless popup, Steven Kwan wondered those same things you wondered.Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt dropped him from the leadoff spot to the bottom of the lineup. But Kwan knew that wasn’t necessarily rock bottom.He thought about the specter of losing playing time. He considered whether he’d be demoted to Triple A, trapped with his thoughts during that lonely two-hour drive south to Columbus, puzzling over how things went sideways. He pondered whether the Guardians might simply cut bait, designating him for assignment or trading him — anything to offload one of the club’s largest salaries and greatest disappointments.Kwan admits he got caught in the spiral. If this happened, what would that look like? If this happened, how would that reshape his future? It haunted him, and he kept it mostly to himself. It was critical to him not to drag negative energy into Cleveland’s clubhouse.As Kwan recently sifted through his journal, he noticed it wasn’t that long ago — late June, in fact — when he was scribbling those disheartened thoughts on paper. A mere two months ago, he was enduring the most difficult stretch of his career, in the batter’s box and in his mind.His solution was to detach. Whatever happened, he had no choice but to roll with it. Just “rely on that 162,” he said. One helpful aspect of a long season is that it grants the opportunity for a course correction.Now, he’s surging. Since July 1, only National League MVP favorite Pete Crow-Armstrong has outperformed him in terms of fWAR. For two months, Kwan has racked up hits, drawn a ton of walks and played his customary elite outfield defense.Those first-half fears have faded. He’s fixated now on finishing strong instead of fending off a potential reassignment. To get there required some honest self-reflection.More than ever, Kwan has reviewed old journal entries to understand how he dealt with past struggles. He pored over his writing from slumps in 2023 and the second half of 2024 to revisit his mindset then, but he found that when he was failing at the plate, he wasn’t as motivated or as thoughtful during those postgame dates with his diary.He found succinct game reports, and that in itself was revealing. It helped him realize, as he slogged through three underwhelming months, that he needed to break through his self-inflicted writer’s block and summon the spirit to express himself rather than bottle up his frustration.